Email: Transferred to Lincoln!

Hello to you all,

                 So wow things are changing quickly. I am being transferred! As you can imagine this came as a huge shock to both Elder Halle and myself. We both thought that we would be staying for sure. When we got the transfer call Sunday night we both could not believe what we heard. I definitely was not very happy that I was being moved. It seemed like just when the work in this area was finally picking up that is when I get booted out of here. I am mostly just upset because things were going so well here. Elder Halle and myself were getting along really well. Like I said we were finally starting to get some good work going, and overall I just love this area so much. The ward members, the area itself, and my companion especially. I guess that is why they needed to move though because the mission is supposed to be a learning experience and if things are too comfortable then it is a lot harder to learn really important lessons.

                   The place I am being transferred to is called Lincoln. It is only like 15 minutes away from where I currently am. I kind of hoping that I would be moved further up north where there is less city, but I have heard really good things about Lincoln.  That is actually where Elder Halle was last at. He really enjoyed it there. My new companions name is Elder Newcomb. He has been out for about 19 to 20 months. I have been told that he is a really nice guy. I sure hope that we get along as well as Elder Halle and I did.

                    This past week has been a pretty good week. We had a few lessons with some people. One lesson with Kaylea that went well. She is going to be baptized in November. Something really cool happened yesterday. My district leader called me up last night. He told me that he ran into Honey greenshields husband, will. He started talking with them about Elder Halle and I. Will told them that he was so grateful for the things that we had done for them. For all of the time and effort that we had taken in helping them come to the Gospel. He went on saying that his life is so different now and he just feels happier as well as Honey his wife. So what Elder Ellsworth was trying to tell me by giving me that call was that I really have made a difference in somebodies life here. I may not really feel like it because I haven't had any baptisms yet but there is just one example of the people that I was able to help. I was really grateful for that call that he gave me. It made me feel so much better about the time that I have spent here. It helped me realize that I really did make a difference. It was so great to hear that and made me feel good to know that I really did help.

                    I was really sad to have to say goodbye to so many people that I have come to know and love. I never thought I could become as attached to this area as I have. I really have come to respect and love all of the members of this ward. I truly believe that these people that I have served around are people that I will have a bond of friendship with for the rest of my life. They really did take me in and help me feel so welcome here and for that I am eternally grateful. Well my next email will be from my new area so wish me luck. I will be telling you all about my new area and comp. I love you all and hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Payne

Email: How great will be your joy...

Hello to everyone back home and those suckers on a cruise ship somewhere in the Caribbean,
                     Well I apologize for the size of the email last week. I didn't have to much time so I had to write quick. So this past week has actually been a pretty good one. We had a lot of up and a lot of downs. I did learn a ton though and that, I believe is the biggest thing. Anyways so let me begin with the downs of the week.
                    We officially handed Honey and her Husband off to the Sacramento missionaries. It was a sad, sad day but it had to be done. We were able to talk with Honey and her husband as well as deliver a large print Book of Mormon to her. They were both just very grateful for the service that we had provided them as well as the time we took to help them learn more. I have been talking a lot about them both in my Presidents letters that I send each week. We actually had Presidents interviews earlier today. He told me that there are going to be some leadership opportunities coming up soon for me. That was pretty crazy to hear. President told me that I should count them as baptisms, because I was part of their conversion process. It was awesome because he told both Elder Halle and myself that if and when they get baptized we will be able to attend. That was such great news to hear. Dad shared with me some great incite, and sent me some things that were exactly what I needed to hear. I was very grateful for what he sent and it helped me to understand so much.
               " If Honey does join the church, you can still take pride in knowing you helped "bring" her into the gospel, and you were part of it.
               "And if it so be that ye should labor all your days…and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!” (Doctrine & Covenants Section 18, verses 10, 15, and 16.)"
                 So more of the ups of the week. We picked up a new investigator. His name is Gary. He is an awesome guy that we actually have a lesson with later on today. I just really hope the things that we teach him will stick because I know that is can really bless his life. Things with Kaylee are still going great as well. She is a very smart little girl so she is able to understand so much that we teach her. We have just been going over the commandments with her. She has maybe one or two lessons left. So that is pretty exciting as well. Other than that this past week has been a pretty ordinary week, nothing to crazy or unusual that has gone on. Ok I guess there were a few interesting things that happened. So we were on exchanges last Wednesday, I was with our District leader in my ward. At the beginning of the day we had set a goal to stop every single person we could at bus stops. So we are going around doing this. We had just crossed a street when I noticed a lady sitting at a bus stop. So before I passed her I slammed on my brakes to talk to her. Well the other Elder was behind me and didn't notice that I had come to and abrupt halt, so he looked up just in the nic of time to barely swerve passed me. I just continued on talking to her while he had to gather himself and come back around. We thought it was pretty hilarious because we just about ate it right in the middle of the busiest street in my area. So later on down the same road we were riding next to each other, he was in the gutter and I was on the sidewalk. All of a sudden a bus pulls up right next to us and starts to merge right into where he was. So he had to come right up onto the sidewalk to avoid getting hit. unfortunately that is exactly where I was. Also I couldn't get over any further because there was a bench blocking my way. We were so close his handlebars overlapped mine and I could feel his hands touch mine, ,all of this while still riding at about 15 MPH. Pretty fun stuff . Luckily we didn't collide and we ended up being OK. Anyways so that is a little bit of my week.
                    It sounds like things are going well back home. I  cant believe that Linds Rob and Drake are really getting ready to move out. It just doesn't seem real to me. I really hope things go well in the move. Also Staci I am so excited for you. I loved seeing the 3D pictures of the baby. I just cant believe there is really a baby inside you. ha ha How are you feeling about things? Nervous?Excited? A little of both? You are going to be such a great mother and I am so excited for you. Katey I got your letter thank you so much. I sent my reply back to you yesterday, so you should be getting it soon. And last of all but definitely not least Hannah thank you so much for the brownies. They are delicious. My companion was even saying how amazing they were. So thank you so much for doing that. You are getting to be a pretty amazing cook. Also mom and dad I hope you are having fun out on the cruise. I am extremely jealous because that is the ship that I wanted to go on like a year ago. Anyways things are great. Thank you so much for all of the support. I know you are all doing so much to help me out and I thank you for that. I love you all so much.

Love Elder Payne

Letter from a Member

Monday, October 14th, Mom received this email from a member. What an awesome surprise and so great to hear how Hunter is doing from someone else's perspective!

Hey Sheri,

The Elder's are over for dinner right now. They were playing a card game after dinner with my kids that your son taught them. We kinda had a weird dinner tonight. I asked the Elders last month what their favorite meals were. Your son said Poppy seed chicken. He described it pretty well, so I looked up a recipe on the internet that was pretty close to what he described and made it for them last time they came over. That was pretty good stuff! My kids really liked it too. This time was Elder Halle's favorite dinner night which is breakfast foods. It was a little messed up cuz we didn't have any milk to make buttermilk waffles out of so we had pancakes and cake dessert waffles. We also had this breakfast pizza thing. Anyways, I'm stuffed. I hope I didn't ruin these missionaries favorite meals. After having my cooking. Hee Hee. We are having them over again the Sunday before Halloween so we are having a fun meal that I will be more prepared for..

The missionaries sounded great today in Sacrament meeting. They helped sing a part in the Young Women Presentation. It really turned out awesome. Everyone in the ward loved it. I wonder when my son goes on a mission if he would actually get up and sing in church cuz he's not so much the singing type, but hopefully, especially because he thinks your son and Elder Halle are cool and they sang.

So I asked your son what I should tell you...my daughter just said to tell you that these missionaries are "hyper and annoying" hee hee. Your son just said to tell you that my son should marry Katelyn. Not so sure Katelyn would like that since she has a boyfriend....I think I will see if we can play a quick game of pit before they go home tonight.

I really appreciate the example these missionaries set for the youth of our ward!

Sandi Bryan

Pictures of Elder Payne & Elder Halle at the Bryan's Home-

Email: Conference

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

 

Dear Family,

 

Well let me start off by telling you that this past weekend has been absolutely amazing. Conference was such a fantastic experience, even more so out here in the mission field. To answer your question yes we got to watch all of conference. We were able to watch beginning at Saturday morning and got every bit of it all the way to Sunday afternoon. All of the missionaries in our zone came to the stake center and we all watched it together. I really loved the new perspective that I was able to gain on the things said. I think one of the biggest things, and I am sure dad talked about this, but it was in the priesthood session. Once again they talked about the mothers and wives to give more back rubs to their sons and husbands. Apparently it is isn't being done or I am sure they wouldn't keep commenting on it haha. I am just joking of course. Something really cool, between sessions Sunday afternoon they did the world report on the Brigham city temple and I saw mom singing in the choir. It was so cool I started to freak out! haha All of the other elders were just like what is going on? It was cool seeing mom on TV though. So a little bit about what is going on here. We met with Honey last week and had an excellent lesson with her. She is probably the most prepared person I have ever seen. She straight .up told that she knows that her life would have gone better if she was a Mormon. Well come to find out she doesn't live in our ward. She doesn't even live in our mission. It was so sad to find that out. I know that she is supposed to be there but things were so perfect and I could have had my first baptism. It really sucks but oh well there is nothing we can do about it. I guess just keep searching right. So that is what is going on with her. Things are going really great out here. I have been thinking about the family a lot lately. I miss you all very much and I am praying for you all everyday that things will continue to go well. I love you all and hope you have a good week. Love

 

Elder Payne

Email: Miracle Week!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Hello Family, friends and all you other people ha ha

 

Como se hace todo el mundo? Espero que todos ustedes estan haciendo muy bien! Bueno, si usted traduce esto usted ser?/span> capaz de ver que me han cambiado a un misionero de habla espanola. Loco eh! Puede usted creer que yo voy a estar hablando espaanoles y ahora que tengo que volver al MTC por un periodo adicional de 6 semanas de entrenamiento. Ok todo eso era en realidad completamente falsa. Me disculpo yo estaba teniendo un poco de diversion.

 

Anyways this past week was a pretty good week. We saw quite a few miracles. The first one came when we were teaching Kaylee. So we were teaching the Plan of Salvation to her.( you may want to try and get a Preach My Gospel so that when I say a lesson you go see what is in that lesson.) Anyways it went very well and it was a lot of fun to teach. We got to use a lot of object lessons. Like to represent the different kingdoms of glory we used different amounts of light. Like we used a flashlight to represent the lowest kingdom then dim lights for the next and finally all of the lights in the room on to represent the celestial kingdom. That was a lot of fun then we also got to use the glove analogy to represent our spirits through out our lives. Then at the end of the lesson we..........wait for it..........committed her to baptism on October 27th! It was really awesome to get a firm baptismal commitment down. So now we just have to coordinate everything with the other missionaries in the Sac mission. The next miracle I saw this week came on exchanges. I went on exchanges with Elder Ashby. How cool? We got to talk a lot about our families and home towns because we have both been to each others towns a lot. So during that day we were able to each quite a few lessons. The most memorable by far was the lesson we had with a less active family. It was a very spirit lesson in which I shared D&C 121:7-8 She was very stressed and seemed like she was about to lose it at he first of the lesson, but as the spirit worked on her she was able to calm down and really listen to our message. After the lesson I felt prompted to ask her if she would like a blessing. She accepted so then I was able to give her a blessing. It was amazing! So this past Saturday we had the Bro-lympics. It was an Elders Quorum activity that was a lot of fun. We had various activities such as spitting contests, tug-of-wars, paintball shooting contests(I was the target!), pie eating(pmpkin pie with almonds olives and crushed prunes Blah), and jousting. It was a blast and I ended up winning the whole thing with 9 gold medals. For winning I got a big steak. Pretty great! Alright last miracle. So yesterday at church we got introduced to this lady. Her name is Honey. She told that she had met with missionaries about 17 years ago. they lost contact when they moved. Anyways she was watching TV when a Mitt Romney commercial came on. She just thought to herself "I think I will give the Mormons another shot" So she just showed up to church. That was so cool and such a blessing. She has had a lot of trails in her past and I know that this gospel can help her. Well the story goes on. We were shopping and came out of the store after we finished. Well guess who came walking up? Yep it was Honey with her husband right behind her. SO we got to talk to both of them. He told us that Honey had spoken very highly of us and our church. As we were leaving he told us "well you can expect us in church on Sunday! I can guarantee that it wasn't just a coincidence that we ran into each other today" That was such a miracle in my eyes. I know that these people are definitely prepared to hear the Gospel. Well I better wrap things up. I love you all so much. I loved all of the good news from back home(Staci and the baby, Katelyn and the dance and Hannah and school) and out here in Cali, ( Rob, Linds and the house) I love you all and keep the good news coming I hope you all have a fantastic week.

 

Love Elder Payne

Elder Payne and his new companion Elder Halle have quite a lot in common

 

Elder Payne in the pie eating contest 

 

Elder Payne won the "steak" with 9 gold medals in the "bro-lympics" in his ward!!

 

 

Email: Investigators

Hello to everyone,

Well I sure hope everyone is doing well this week. From the multiple letters and packages I got it sounds like everyone is doing great. I was able to read a little thing on the Brigham city temple dedication on LDS.org yesterday. That is so awesome. I am so glad that it went so well. From the letters and emails it sounds like the thing on Saturday went very well. That is so great. I bet that Katelyn and Hannah and all the girls had a blast. I really would have loved to have been able to be there for that. It is just so amazing that we have a temple so close to Tremonton now. I am so grateful for the fact that a temple is only about 15 minutes away.

 

So I have to tell you the past few days I got absolutely spoiled. I got multiple letters and packages from you all. It was pretty amazing to literally see the love and support that you are sending my way. Dad thank you so much for the words of encouragement that you sent me. It helped so much. Thank you for the updates as well. Mom and sisters thank you for the package you sent me with fresh shirts and candy and stuff, and thank you so much Lindsay for the package you sent me. I wont go into to much detail about it because I don't know if she has given mom and dad theirs. So linds I will send you a letter with my reaction to it. That was so thoughtful and I am sure it took up a lot of time. That is such exciting news to hear that Rob and Linds sold their house. Believe me when I say that I have been praying so hard that things would work out well for you all. I am glad to hear that it sold so quickly and at such a good price. I hope all goes well in the coming weeks while you are trying to find a new house. So Staci and Tyler have there been any other new updates concerning the baby? That is so awesome that she is starting to kick and you can feel her. Katey and Han I love you both very much and I hope things are going well for you. When is the homecoming dance? Make sure you send me pictures of it. Oh yeah and how is my truck doing? Are you keeping her clean? I hope so I really miss my truck haha anyways if you would it would be awesome if you would send me a picture of it.

 

So this past week was great we were able to me a few new people. We had a really great lesson with a little girl named Kaylee. She lives in the Sacramento mission but we have been given special permission to teach her here even though she will be baptized there. It is pretty awesome and it will be a great experience for me to be able to develop better teaching skill. So the next update is with Alyssa. Things are going very well there. We were not able to have a lesson with her because her cousin had a baby ans she has been taking care of that, but she did come to church. This is the second week she has come too. This is huge because previously she has never come to church. We also caught her talking to one of the Young Woman's leaders in hall. She was telling her that she wants to get more involved and starting coming to more activities and stuff. That was so great to hear. I know that as she puts more faith in the gospel and applies herself more she will be blessed. So a little more about my companion as requested by my mom. No he does not have an accent at all. He actually gets asked that a lot and it is funny because he is constantly just like " No I don't". and no I am not in the Roseville 3rd ward. That is in a different zone. I am in the Van Maren ward in the Citrus Heights zone. I do know the Elder Ashby you were talking about. He is actually in my district. It is awesome I get to see him 3 or 4 times a week. He is an awesome guy and I look forward to getting to know him better.

 

Well I love you all so much and love hearing from you all. Keep the letters and packages coming. I hope you all have a great week.

 

Love Elder Payne

Email: New Companion

Hello everyone,

 

Well let me start out by telling you that this past week has been great. I got my new companion last Tuesday and luckily he is a pretty awesome guy. His name is Elder Halle and he is from Missouri. He has been out for a while like I predicted. He has been out a little over 20 months, So this is most likely his last area. In the few days that we have had together we have gotten a long great. We dont exactly have the same interests but we still get along well. He came into this area with a ton of enthusiasm to work in this ward. That was fantastic to. Elder Woolley had been here for quite a while so he wasnt to excited to be here anymore. One of the best things is he does not look down on me at all. It is really nice to feel like an equal.

 

So for the past week I have basically been taking over the area. I have to do this because Elder Halle is new coming in and he has to learn the area and because I have been here the longest I know the area and people better. Things have been going great and we have suddenly been seeing a bit of success. We all of sudden went from just a few investigators to around 5 or 6 promising investigators.

 

We were able to take Alyssa and her friend to a baptism on Saturday. We were able to have a very spiritual lesson before as well. It was amazing because we went into the lesson not really knowing what to teach her and we jsut went with the spirit. We taught her a lot about the blessing that we receive through baptism and mainly receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was so great and so amazing to see her beginning to progress. After that we went to the baptism of a little boy in the ward. We eat dinner there quite a bit so herr asked me to speak at his baptism. I got to speak on the Holy Ghost. It was jsut a simple 5 minute talk but I was grateful for the oppurtunity I had to speak. So after the baptism we invited Alyssa and her friend to come to church the following day and amazingky they agreed. So we were able to bring them to church.

 

We also had a member bring one of her friends and we picked her up as a new investigator. Her name is Riley and she is about 14 she is quite interested in learning more. So I told her that we were the people that could help her. We set up a lesson for this coming Sunday. So that is a bit of what has been going on. It is amazing how quickly we have fallen into work. Iam very grateful for it and cant wait to see how some of it unfold.

 

So it sounds like this past week has been a little hectic. I hope everyone is doing well though. Hannah I hope you got my card that I sent you. It was sent with much thought ans consideration. That was so kind of you all to throw a big party for Celestial. I cant even imagine how much that probably meant to her. I am so excited for the temple dedication coming up. I am not sure if it is going to be broadcast out here but I will check and try to find out. I hope you all have a good time at the dedication service. Dad that was awesome that both uncle wayne and Aunt Becky got animals and that elk was insane! I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw that thing. Dont worry it only makes me a little homesick. You should send me some sagebrush so I can smell it and feel like I am up hunting. haha I hope everything is going well for you at work. That is really exciting that Katleyn got asked to homecoming I remember my homecoming and it was one of the funnest dances that I went to.

 

I would really like to do the book of mormon testimony thing yes. So just type and brief testimony and send it to me. Make sure it will fit in the front cover though. It will definitely help. Testimonies are very powerful and can change people lives. One last thing can you send the last memory card I sent home back to me please. I want to be able to send this one back to you and I need that one to do so. WEll I love you all very much. I have been definitely been feeling your prayers. Keep them coming. I love you all very much and thanks for the support.

                                                                             

Love Elder Payne

 

Story Time by Uncle Hunter

Uncle Hunter sent his nephew Drake home this awesome story!

We just had to share!

Email: Prayer is such a blessing

Hello Family,
                 Well there has been a lot going on this past week. A lot of things changing and a lot of new things. So let me start with the least important and move up in importance. So first off I learned this past week that I like to eat both bell peppers and tomatoes. Now this may not come as that big of news to much but you all know how picky I am when it comes to food. Second, I got to teach my first lesson in  church on Sunday. It was kinda scary because I found out I had to teach it late Saturday night and didn't have much time to prepare for it. However i think it still turned out ok. The subject was Eternal marriage so something I didn't really know that much about but i still think i pulled it out. We also got a few more investigators this past week and so this coming week is going to be quite busy. So I saved the biggest news  for last. I found out just last night that I am going to be getting a new companion. Elder Woolley is being transferred somewhere and I am getting someone new. The Elders name is Elder Halle. I don't know too much about him. I do know that he has about 4 and a half months left. I got to talk to him just briefly  today and he sounds like a really nice guy. I will let you know more about him next week as I find out more myself. Pretty crazy that I am already on to my 2nd companion. I am a little nervous just not knowing what the other guy is like and whether or not we are going to get along. I am sure it will all turn out just fine though.
                 So it sounds like there has been a lot going on back at home too. I am so happy to here that things worked out well for Celestial. That is really great. I have been praying really hard for her that things would work out. I really hope that you all make her feel very welcome in our house. Where has she been sleeping? If you want just let her take my room. I would be more than happy to let her take mine. Just a little suggestion for the whole family and Celestial specifically. Sometimes we wonder why things are happening to us and why are these bad things constantly going on around me? Well I can tell you that everything happens for a reason. Our father in heaven will not make us endure more than we can endure. He is there to help us and if we allow him too, he will bare our burdens. Everything we go through has a purpose. Let the experiences we are having now turn into a lesson that we can use later in life. By doing that we are allowing ourselves to become better. Remember the "Good, better, Best" talk that was given a while ago. Well we have to become our best selves and by using these experiences we can do that.   I am so happy about the temple too. I really wish I could be there but it is better  that I be here than there. I am so happy for Linds and Rob as well. I sure hope all of the prayers that i have been sending up to heaven have been helping. I have started to learn just how important those earnest and sincere prayers are. Prayer is such a blessing and I know that it can help everyone one of us. I love you all so much,. Dont worry about the packages and letters too much, just as long as i am still getting your prayers. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week.
                                                                              Love Elder Payne

Email: 3 New Investigators!

Monday, September 3, 2012



Hello Family,
                How is everyone doing this week? I sure hope everything is going well. So I have officially been out on my mission for 3 whole months. How crazy is that? It seems like it has been a long time, but when I look back at all of the things I have learned and all of the things I have experienced I realize that it has been absolutely flying by. I would have to say one of the biggest things that I have learned in those three months is how much I have to rely on my Heavenly Father. If it were not for my Father in Heaven I would have quit long ago, but with his help I know I can do all things. One scripture that really helps to exemplify how I really feel about it and has become one of my favorite is Alma 26:11-12. Check it out I think you will really like it.
                       So this week we have once again been doing a lot of finding, and guess what? We are finally seeing some success. We picked up 3 new investigators in this last week alone. It was so fantastic. One is a man named Ben. He is in his late 20's or early 30's were not really sure. Hopefully he is over 30 or we will have to pass him off to the singles ward Elders.So the other 2 are a Mother and son. They are Pun Jabi. Which is like Indian.(There are a lot of Indians and Russian people here kinda strange) Anyways we have a lesson with them tonight and we are hoping that we can pick up the rest of the family as investigators as well. So be praying for them please. We have been doing a lot of work with Less active families as well. One came to church for the first time in like 3 months yesterday to. It was great. Another lady is trying to go to the temple so we are going to start teaching her the lessons soon. So hopefully things start to work out there. It is really weird transfers are in a week and Elder Woolley has a chance of leaving because he has already been here for 6 months. So that could be interesting getting a new companion. Other than that everything is going really well here. It is so much fun going out everyday and doing this work.
                      So mom to answer your question I did get your package and I loved the contents. There was a lot of random stuff but it was great. The cookies didnt last very long I think there are like 3 left. They are just to good. I also loved the banana bread as well. Elder Woolley doesnt like banana bread so I don't have to share that with him.I really loved that email from Big D. I am so happy that he got to have an experience like that. It must have been so great. I also sent a letter off for the family last Friday so hopefully it should be coming soon. Can you find out Whit's address down at college for me so I can write her. Thank you. Well I love you all so very much and thank you for the prayers and the blessings that you send my way they are definitely being felt I love you all!
                                                                  Love Elder Payne

Email: Knocking Doors

Monday, July 27, 2012

Hello Everyone,
                     Well this past week has been an interesting one. It started out really well and then kind of dropped off at the end. First I will tell you about  Alyssa and how things went with her. So I told you about the great lesson we had with her on Sunday. So we had another great one on Monday night and then again on Thursday night. She is finally finding the drive to learn more and learn for herself. We have been mostly reading through the Book of Mormon with her. It has been so great to see her faith growing. SO Thursday we invited her to come to a baptism that was going on Saturday. We had planned with her to have a lesson about an hour before and then attend the baptism with her. In the lesson we were going to invite her to be baptized. Well when we went to pick her up. Guess what? she wasn't home. Well that was probably one of the most disappointing moments of my mission thus far. I think it hit so hard because things have been progressing so well with her. As far as finding new investigators we have been unsuccessful in finding anyone yet. That is definitely not from lack of trying. We have been knocking so many doors and talking to so many people with little to no success, but we keep going. I can feel the spirit whispering to me just keep going. So that is what I do I just keep going.   However good news some of the other elders in our zone are finally starting to see some success. So the prayers are definitely helping.
                Last Thursday was awesome. We had a half-mission conference. Elder Cardon of the 70 came and spoke to us. It was such a great experience because both Elder Cardon and President Weston spoke. It was fantastic. I learned a lot about sacrifice and really focusing on what I am doing here.I was so happy I was able to go to that and really gave me a boost for the day.
                 Mom I really liked the package you sent me there was a lot of random stuff in there but it was great. I especially loved the banana bread. It tasted absolutely delicious. So keep that coming. As far as things with my bike. I actually broke a spoke on it, so I am going to have to get that fixed sometime. It probably wont be for a little while because it isn't to bad right now and I can deal with it for now. Anyways some new shirts wouldn't be bad either. As you can imagine with how sweaty i am they get kinda nasty. haha Well I love you all so much and I hope you all had fun at the fair. I miss you a lot.
                                                                             Love Elder Payne

Email: Chilly 85 degrees!

Monday, August 20, 2012


Hello to everyone,
                     Well this week was definitely one of the most interesting weeks so far. It was a ton better than the week previous. I dont know if it was just my mindset or if it really was better haha. So lets start at last Monday. After P-day activity Elder Woolley headed back to apartment. When we walked inside it was surprisingly hot inside. When we looked at the thermostat it read 90 degrees inside. Well it wasnt lying. It was absolutely blazing in there.We did everything we could think of to fix it but we couldn't get it working.  Luckily we didnt have to spend much time in there because we had a dinner appointment.  When we returned it was just as hot in there. We kept trying stuff to fix it but nothing worked. Plus the front office was closed by this time so there was nobody we could call. So we just endured it. Through opening windows and turning on fans, we got it down to a chilly 85 inside. It was a very interesting night to say the least. We probably only got about 4 hours of sleep that night. We decided that next morning just to go study at  the church to just so we could get out of the heat for a bit. We went to the front office later that day to get somebody to come fix it. Luckily it was a quick fix. All they had to do was change out something and it worked perfectly. So everything turned out just fine there. Some other stuff that was kinda interesting was , we were visiting Alfred and his mother was there. i guess they saw my bike tire and didn't think it was acceptable for me to be riding on. In all fairness it was just a little bald. So we got a text from him the next day saying that they had a surprise for me. We went over and they had bought me two brand new tires for my bike. It was pretty awesome, and I thought it was pretty funny that they were so concerned with my tire. I think the biggest news from this week came just last night. We had a lesson with Alyssa on Adam and Eve. We were reading in 2 Nephi chapter 2. Things just were not making sense to her. So finally she was just like can we just start at the beginning and go from there. We explained more about what is in the Book of Mormon and what it is about. Then we started into 1st Nephi. We read through it explaining stuff along the way and by the time we got through the chapter it was time for us to go. She was just like "No you cant go now this is finally making sense to me." Wow hearing that just completely blew our minds. Elder Woolley has been trying to get her to read and help her understand the Book of Mormon for about 5 months, and finally last night it just clicked. She told us we have to come back today too. We are so excited because things are finally progressing with her.
                    It sounds like things are going pretty well back home. i wish I could be there for the temple open house and dedication. I hope all goes well there make sure and let me know how it goes. Hopefully things turn out okay with Celestial. I will be praying for her. Have Derek and Tevan gone out into the field yet? if they have can you get me their addresses. Well i love you all so much and hope everyone has a great week.
                                                                                  Love Elder Payne
P.S. Staci I am so happy that things are going so well with the baby. I hope you start feeling better soon.

Email: Tough

Monday, August 13, 2012

Hello to my wonderful family,
                                    Well this past week has been one tough week. It has been tough for a variety of reasons. 1. One of our most progressing investigators moved suddenly on Saturday. It was Makayla, the little girl that was so close to baptism when I first got out here. She is moving somewhere like south Sacramento. That was such bad news because we were so close with her. 2. We have not been having very much success lately. We have been working so hard trying to find new people to teach, mainly because our investigator pool is dwindling. We have been trying multiple ways to move the work along in this area with little to no success. and 3. It has been absolutely blazing out here. I dont know if you have been checking the weather for this area but it has been just a little steamy. I think the past 4 or 5 days have been above 100 every day. It is supposed to continue like that later into this week too. As you can imagine with how much I sweat I have been just a little gross.haha I basically am just dripping all the time. One perk of being getting as sweaty as I do is that a few people take pity on me and give us water. We try our best to stay cool but it is hard when it is as hot as it is out here.
                                   So i would tell you more about people we are teaching but like i said we dont have that many people to teach right now. That is why we are trying to find so much right now. We did have a few people that seemed a little bit interested that we tracted in to. Two of those people accepted pamphlets and the other jsut said we could come back. That was such a blessing to finally have somebody that didnt just slam the door in my face (which actually happens a lot more than I thought it would). Those couple of people that would actually talk to us was such a moral boost. It made things so much better and even made it seem a little less hot. I was so disheartened until then. With the week we had things just seemed like everything was against us, but finally a little glimmer of hope made things not seem so bad anymore. Other than that we are just basically working as hard as  we can with the time that we have.
                           So it is good to hear that things are going pretty well for everyone back there. That was exciting to hear that Staci's baby is doing well. i feel bad that she still isnt feeling well.  When does the sickness usually go away? Speaking of babies how is baby claire doing? i would love to see some pictures of her and baby jeter as well. I am really jealous that you all got to go to wicked. That  must have been really fun to go see again. Oh yeah I got a letter from Derek and Tevan. They both sounded like they were doing really well. So I know that Tevan still has a little while but how much longer does Derek have. I think he might be leaving this week but I am not sure. With Whit when does she go back to down to school? I got a pretty hilarious letter from her only is sucks because my companion doesnt really get the inside jokes that me and her have. haha. Anyways I love you all and cant wait to hear back from you. I love you
                                                                  Love Elder Payne

Email: Progressing...

Monday, August 6, 2012


Hello to everyone,
                Well I sure hope everyone back home is doing well. Things here are going pretty well. We have been working really hard out here and things have been progressing slowly. Not to much has changed with Makayla. We did finally get to meet her mom but only briefly. I have really been praying specifically for the Lord to soften her heart, so hopefully things will begin to to progress quicker with her. The other girl we are teaching, Alyssa, She is doing a lot better we have been able to have quite a few lessons with her and she is finally praying. Hopefully she will begin to see the importance of prayer and the difference it makes in her life. We got to meet with Helen again, she we really happy to see us. We were able to teach her a bit about the restoration and about the Book of Mormon. She said she would love to read it and discuss it with us a bit. The only problem there is that she can't really set a firm appointment ever because, her husband has really bad health issues so she never knows when she might have to run him somewhere. Other than those three the work has been kinda slow. It gets really frustrating sometimes because we are working so hard and not really seeing that much success. We are trying to get the ward a little more involved in the work so I'm hoping that will begin to help.<-------I just found that emoticon and thought it was really cool so enjoy......
                 Anyways so it sounds like things are going pretty well back home. The girls trip sounded like it was pretty fun. I am just really glad I didnt have to be in that car with you all. That sounded pretty insane. It was good to hear from Rob sent me an email telling me a little about what is going on with him so that is great. Hopefully things keep progressing well for them. How is staci's morning sickness?  make sure and let me know how the doctors appointment goes.So how is Derek doing now? any new news from him. That is awesome that Tevan is enjoying the MTC. It can be such a great place, it just takes a bit of getting used to. Anyways I am so glad that you are all doing so well.
             I was able to talk to both Renton and the Adams family. It was awesome that they were both able to make contact with you. Renton is awesome he loves going out with us and helping us do our work. Plus he is Katelyns age, so Kate think about it maybe even friend him on facebook he is pretty cool. The Adams family also showed me the text that Lindsay sent to them so that it pretty great. So there is a lady here that wants the recipe for monkey bread and Roll up pancakes so mom if you could send those to me that would be awesome. Thanks so much.
            Well i love you all very much and I hope you all have a great week.
                                                                          Love Elder Payne

Video Letters

Our family has recently discovered that Hunter isn't a huge fan of writing letters. :) Instead, he found out that he can send videos home! We recently received his memory card for his camera and found several video letters. We won't complain! It's great to see him!

For some reason, I can't get these videos embedded into the post. So you are going to have to go to the website to view them. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Here are the links-

Video Letter on 7/20/12

Video Letter on 7/22/12

Video Letter on 7/24/12

Email: Happy Investigator

Hello Family,

             Hello again well if you can believe it I have officially survived one whole transfer. That is six weeks dwn only a lot more to go haha. No, it was such a great transfer and I learned so much in such a short period of time. I am so grateful that I can be out here serving. So some updates from last time I emailed. I took over the area for the second time last Tuesday. It was a little more nerve racking this time though because I was with the zone leader this time. He is a really awesome guy though so it ended up not being to terrible. So we were walking around that day and we tracted into this guy sitting in his garage. He was about 70 or 80 somewhere in there. We got to talk to him for a bit before his wife got home. She is about the same age and really nice. So we talked with her for a quite a while and they invited us to come inside out of the heat for a bit. She is really interested in family history and was really excited when we told her that we could help her get started on hers. After a while right before we left we offered to pray with her and her husband and offer to bless there home and there family. She just lit up when we told her that.She got just giddy. So we asked if we could come back and teach her some more and she said she would love it if we did. That was such a neat experience to do that. We are actually going to meet with her later today so I will let you know how that goes.

              So pretty much everything out here is same old same old. Just doing a lot of finding and a bit of teaching. I just have to tell you mom and dad how grateful I am for the type of parents you are and the kind of home you raised us all up in. I have seen a lot of families out here that could use the gospel in their lives so much, but they are to hard in their hearts to recognize that need.  It truly is amazing, just night and day, the difference between the families without those moral values and without the presence of the priesthood in their homes and those that do. So I want to thank you for that.

              I hope everyone is doing alright back home. Staci with the baby, linds and rob with the move, and kate and hannah just with life in general. How has Derek been doing in the MTC? How about Tevan? have things gotten better for him? Last Wednesday when Derek went in I just remembered what it was like and how much I have changed since then. Not in being myself but spiritually and in maturity. It is amazing how fast you mature and grow when you have the spirit working on you like it does. Those two will see that come to life very soon. The amount of growth in the MTC and the first few weeks in  the field is unlike anything I have ever experienced.

               So in other news my companion, Elder Woolley, has become District Leader for our district. It was really cool to get the news. So I will let you know how he is doing with that. Well I love you all very much. I am praying constantly for you all. I love you all and thank you for all of the love and support

                                                                    Love Elder Payne

Pictures in Citrus Heights!

Hunter just sent us home his memory card with some fun pictures and videos! It's fun to see him being his goofy self! Looks like he is doing great!

Pictures from 6/30/12-7/24/12

2 Great Danes-

Just chillin' (in apartment)-

 

Contact Jenga with Alfred. I think I have told you about him. Mexican mafia, has one leg-

No caption with this photo, but it must be a picture of his or his companion's tire- look at that worn out tread!

 A falcon in a tree

 Scripture Power (it's real!)-

 I was bored with Skittles-

Video of Elder Payne & Elder Woolley telling about their flat tire experience-

http://youtu.be/BfbQbfsLqkw

Metal that was in bike tire-

 Harry Potter wands- 

 Our zone (sorry we are fuzzy)

Sweet!

The ice cream challenge (at Leatherby's)- and yes, I did eat all of it! In under 15 minutes.

Elder Gillen (he leaves this next week)-

Our district-

Really funny (came from that little book you gave me)

(For all those who aren't writing him! haha kidding)

Letter: Bearing Testimony

This is a really great letter we wanted to share!

7/25/12

Hello Family,
Well here is your letter that you have been so anxiously awaiting. Sounds like things are going good there still. Things are pretty much the same here. we have actually found 2 new investigators so far this week! We are really excited to finally be seeing some success. I know that all of that hard work is finally paying off. I have to thank you for all of your prayers, they are really being felt on my end.

How is everyone doing with everything that is going on with Linds and Rob? How crazy is it to think when you come and visit them you will only be 2 hours away from me? Pretty crazy if you ask me. They really are going to love it out here. Some of the laws are a little ridiculous, but they will adapt just fine in no time.

Wow! Isn't it crazy that my first transfer is already basically done with? Now I only have about 16 more. haha! There is a missionary going home from our district and he kept telling me how fast it goes and how he remembers like it was yesterday when he was in my position. I'm sure it is going to be the exact same way and soon I will be in his shoes.

So I took over the area for the second time yesterday. This time I was with our Zone leader. He is a Tongan/Samoan guy from Florida. He is awesome and we had a great day. He told me that he was really impressed with how well I ran the area. He didn't really even have to do that much. That was really great to hear that I did well. I was really nervous to do it with ZL here but sounds like I did alright.

As you will hear on the video I am sending you, I had my first real experience with a really bashy guy. I stood my ground though and didn't bash back. I just bore him my testimony and walked away. It was probably the maddest I have been out here so far. Just because he was bashing on things that I hold so close to my heart.

Well, I love you all so much. Thank you all for all of the support. Hannah, thank you for the letter. That was very sweet of you. I hope that moose didn't scare you too bad (a moose walked into their testimony meeting at YW's camp). I love you all.

Love, Elder Payne

Email: Been out 2 months!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Hello to everyone,
                     I got your package with all of the treats. Thank you very much me and Elder Woolley have been enjoying them. I havent gotten the other package yet. I got a message from the post office saying that it is here but we havent been home to get it. So it is sitting at the post office. Something cool. I met a kid out here that was in aaron blacks district in the mtc. Crazy huh.
                             So some new things that have happened last week. I took over the area for the first time on exchanges. It was a little scary but I think I did a pretty good job. I am actually on exchanges again today with the zone leaders. They are really good guys and fun to exchange with. It is so weird that my first transfer is about up. I have almost been out here 2 whole months! It has gone by faster than I thought it would. So almost 1 down only 16 more to go. haha I miss you all so much. How is derek doing? is he ready? Tell him i love him and that he is going to be a great missionary. How is Whit doing? Is she going to be ok? Sorry that I have so many questions just trying to figure out everything that is going on back there.  Well i love you all very much and be watching for my letter. Also mom i love the scripture verses they are great so keep those coming I Love you all.
                                                                             Love Elder Payne

Email: Bikes

Monday, July 16, 2012

Hello Family
                Well this week has been extremely challenging and difficult but fun. So I will start on Tuesday. It started out just the same as any other day. We got up and took off out of our apartment at about 11. (We dont leave until then because i am new so I get an extra hour of study.) So we had to go to the library to do a thing for being a new missionary. Anyways on the way I must have hit something because my tire was losing air fast. SO I pulled out a piece of metal that was about 2 inches long that had gone right through my tire. Bummer so we had to walk my bike back to the church. We had a member come and pick us up and take us back the apartment to get an extra tube. So we took it back changed the tube and took off again to meet someone. We got about a mile and a half away from the church and guess what? Elder Woolley got a huge nail right through his tire. So we then got to walk about that far back to the church again. Luckily i had brought a patch kit with us. So all of this was going on in about 107 degrees outside. So that all took about 2 and a half hours to do all that. So after this we decided to go tract a street we had been thinking about tracting for a while. We start on one end door after door no one is interested. One larger lady was particularly rude she slammed the door in our face yelling " Ah Heck No!" only she didnt say "heck". haha Then a tender mercy. The very next door I knocked and told the man who we were and what we were out doing and asked him if he would be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ. To my complete and utter surprise he said yes. I was in complete shock I didnt even know what to say. I just looked over at Elder Woolley with a stunned look. He was stunned as well for about 3 seconds before he started in to the restoration and the Book of Mormon. Another big shock is he accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read it and that we could come back. That just absolutely made my day. We havent been able to make contact with him again yet but hopefully soon. So the next day was about 108 which made for a lot of fun biking. Then finally it cooled off to about 95. Which felt so much cooler than the day before. The rest of the week went by pretty well until Sunday where we got another flat tire. Elder Woolleys back tire went flat. He had to borrow a members bike. So at the end of the week we didnt have the best numbers but we did recieve about 3 or 4 really good refferals and potential investigators.Hopefully they will play out for us.
                  Just letting you all know I am loving the work I am doing out here. It is so hard but so fulfilling. Tell Tevan that i love him. I can totally tell where he is coming from. The first few days in the MTC are pretty terrible. Tell him to hang in there and it will all be worth it. I was pretty far behind everyone in my class there as far as knowledge of the scriptures, but all he needs is a strong testimony, which I know he has, and a strong will to work, which is one of Tevans strongest values. Remind him of what i said to him in my talk. The whole world is expecting him to fail, only he can decide whether or not he will listen to the "World". I am so happy for Big D it sounds like his farewell talk went really well. I am praying continually for my two best missionary friends. Tevan and Big D so let them know how proud I am of them. Speaking of best friends how is Whit doing I havent heard much from her i ll bet she si really busy Tell her I love her and cant wait to hear from her.
                 So Rob and Linds are coming to join me here in Cali. Weird! I am excited for them to be getting such a great job oppurtunity. They are going to love it even though they have to leave there families. I have been praying for them to be lead in the best direction possible for them. I lvoe you both so much. So the cat is out of the bag with Staci huh? That is so exciting I loved the pics they emailed me they were great. Well I am runnning out of time i love you all and cant wait to hear back from you.
                                                                               Love Elder Payne

(I finally got a hold of Hunter's mission pictures, so I'll be adding them on here with his emails so you can see what a handsome missionary he is.)