Email: Conference Weekend

Well hello there family,
                       
       How was every ones conference weekend? Well mine out here was absolutely phenomenal. Who woulda thought that I would love to sit there for 10 hours of meetings in two days? Quite honestly I probably wouldn't think I could do it but man did I love it. One of the things that really struck me was how direct the talks all were. there was very little beating around the bush. They were all just absolutely laying down the law. One of my favorite talks was definitely L.Tom Perry's, he was really speaking about how badly the views of the world have become skewed. Also no matter  how bad the world gets and how far off their perception of things are the Church will remain constant. That is where we should look for stability. Wow those were some powerful words. I honestly cannot just pick out one favorite talk they were all just so great. The priesthood session was particularly amazing, and yes mom I did get to watch it, I am only in California not in like Nigeria or something. haha Anyways when the first presidency all spoke they were speaking with such clarity and vision that it would be hard to not know what it is they want us to do. Can you imagine not being able to have that guidance from our Prophet? It is hard to think about. I am just so grateful that we have a living Prophet on earth today, one with the Priesthood authority of God to govern and guide his people. Also how blessed are we as a people to be able to simply flip on a TV or jump on the computer and receive his word.
        Things here in Rocklin are going very well. The work is slowing picking up and for that I am grateful. We are really working on finding new investigators. Last week we were able to pick one up. A single mother with a young son. We stopped by there house because other missionaries had tracted there and she had seemed somewhat interested. So we stopped by and she was very kind to us we talked with her for about 10 to 15 minutes on her door step about the Plan of Salvation, because we found out her husband passed away. She was happy to hear a little about the Plan of Salvation and was interested in hearing more. We set up a return appointment and now we are going back this week. Other than that extremely bright spot the rest of the week was pretty dull. Mostly it was filled with getting Elder Hyde more familiar with the area and helping him figure things out.

                   Ah I forgot to talk about picking him up and how that went. So I went on Wednesday morning and met with all of the other trainers and trainees. It was crazy in this group there were 8 new sisters coming in and only 6 new Elders. In 3 more months we are going to double the number of sisters that are in this mission. Absolutely insane! Anyways we all met together and had a brief meeting and a little breakfast. After that we separated from trainers and trainees. We then had individual training for the two groups. After that we all came back together and were finally assigned our companions. I was assigned Elder Hyde. He is from Saratoga Springs,UT. He likes playing the drums and reading. He is a nice kid and coolest of all he is 18. haha Anyways after about 4 hours of meetings we finally got out and went back to Rocklin. So that is how that all went. I am excited to be training again, it brings an added level of difficulty to the work because I am still district leader on top of that. I am excited for it though and I am hoping I am up to the test.

         Oh one cool thing,Linds this is mostly for you, but one of the new Elders came up to me and was like hey I know you. I was like really where from. Then he proceeded to tell me how him and his mom had been checking out my blog to figure out what the area was like and what to expect. So keep up the good work because others are benefiting from what you are doing. Well everyone I love you all so much and I hope you all are continuing to do well. I love you once again.

Love Elder Payne

With Elder Peek and other missionaries-

With new companion and trainee, Elder Hyde, & President and Sister Weston

Email: Easter & Video: Missionary Work & The Atonement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With Love Elder Payne

Email: "Ask the Missionaries! They can Help You!"

Hi Family,
              Well I sure hope you all are having a great week. From the email that mom sent me it sounds like everyone is doing very well and that you all are keeping busy. So I will fill you in on everything that has been going on in just a sec but I have to answer questions before I go on so I don't forget. So being Senior companion is great. I really like being able to lead and be that kind of missionary rather than one that follows. i am just one that likes to lead rather than have to be lead around not knowing where i am going, so I feel a lot more comfortable as Senior companion. Elder Holbrook is great. We have been getting along very well. He is starting to feel a lot more comfortable around me and other missionaries, so he is opening up quite a bit more. He isn't afraid to call me out on stuff now and I am not afraid to do the same. We argue a bit but it is all in fun and it makes it so we don't hold anything in. So yes things are going well.
                                 Yes we did find some new investigators, unfortunately they cant really meet until the first of the year. That's OK though it gives us something to look forward to. We also were able to get a referral for a family that we picked up just last night, and let me tell you they look very promising. The mother is actually a less active member. She hasn't come to church for a very long time, close to 12 years. She just randomly started coming to church last week and saw an immediate increase in blessings. They were having severe financial difficulties and about to go under when they came to church. The week after she was able to get a job and get a bunch of legal stuff worked out. It was amazing to hear her story and how our Heavenly Father had blessed her so abundantly. Her daughter who is 12 and son who is 17 are very interested in being baptized. The daughter literally asked one of the members of the ward,"How do I get prepared to get baptized?" My immediate thought went to Russel M. Nelsons talk, "Ask the missionaries they can help you!" So we are meeting with them this week and hopefully we can get the two kids baptized by the end of the year!
                             So about skyping. We will be at our Ward mission leaders house to skype around 9 o'clock, hopefully. Which would be about 10 where you guys are.I will probably have about as much time as I want. That will be really cool to have it up on the big screen. That way everyone can see. Whats going on. So I am sorry I don't have any more information about it, that's all I know.
                           So yes i did get your package and thank you so much for it. It was much needed. I was having an absolutely horrible week. The man who was supposed to be baptized called Thursday morning and told us that he wasn't ready to become a Mormon. Man that hit hard. It was very disheartening because we have been working with him for quite a while. We went over Friday to talk with him and we found out that a bunch of anti-Mormon people that came and basically talked him out of it. That pretty much sucked, but we will keep working with him and hopefully get him another date soon. So like I said that package was much needed and yes I have been following the rules. It is much more fun that way, because now i get to open one everyday and spread the fun throughout the days. Anyways that has pretty much been my week.
                            It sounds like there is a lot of great stuff going on back home. That's exciting that Rob, linds and drake all get to be there for Christmas. I sent Drake a package for his birthday I hope it got there before they left. If not it will be there when you return. haha

Well I love you all and I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Love Elder Payne

Email: Senior Companion

Well hello to all,
                         Well this has been an absolutely insane week filled with a lot of change. Just to start things off, Tuesday Elder Newcomb packed up everything and headed down south a little ways to what is called Antelope. He was sad to leave this area but I was definitely ready to see him go. It is kind of strange that now I am going to be senior companion all of the time. Especially with only having been in this area for 6 weeks, but I am up for the challenge. So Tuesday afternoon me and another Elder that is training headed down to Antelope to a meeting with President Weston. All of the trainers got together and President Weston gave us some instruction on everything that will be going on as far as training goes and what he expects of us. He told us that the elders that are 6 weeks out right now and the ones that are just getting here are the two most important groups to come out, because they are going to be the ones to train the brand new influx of missionaries this coming spring. So that was really neat to hear. So Wednesday morning was the day that we actually got paired up with our companions. My new companions name is Elder Holbrook. He is from Meridian, ID so I give him a hard time about being from Idaho all the time. haha He is 19 years old and graduated in 2012. He is really smart and knows his stuff really well. He has great greeney fire so he likes to work really hard. I really believe that we are going to be able to get some really great things done in this area.

                        So as far as the people in this area that we are currently teaching. Hailey is still doing really well. She has been going through a bit of a rough patch as far as transitioning from old ways and old friends and old habits to doing positive and good things. She is a strong girl though and I know she is going to do just fine. The couple with the twins, well that is kind of a sad spot right now. They have split up. It doesn't look like there is much hope for them to get back together either. It is so sad to see a family torn apart like that, but that just shows you how easy it is to walk away when you are not married. We are still teaching him and hopefully things will improve in his life. The man being baptized his name is Rodney. He is in his 50's. We are really excited for it because he has been taught for quite a while. There has been a huge change in his life and in his countenance over the past month and a half. So very exciting news Elder Holbrook and I found 3 new investigators this past week. One is a guy named Manny, the other two are a mother and daughter who are about 77 and 40 something. They seem really interested and I know that the things we teach them will bless their lives. They have both gone through many hard times with loss of family and many trials so I know that they will be comforted by what we have to say. This past Friday we had this really awesome program go on. It was called the Holy Night. It was a big program that was all just singing and musical parts praising Christ's birth. It was such an amazing experience to go and feel the spirit there. Just like you were saying mom, there is a special spirit in the air with music. Anyways what it was, was a big stake choir that sang for about 45 minutes. We were able to get about 4 investigators there, which was great. It was so neat to hear the choir and see the love that they were proclaiming through song. This coming week should be a busy one. We have a lot of people to visit and a lot to do.

                            For all of you that don't know my family sent me and awesome Christmas package, filled with all kinds of goodies and decorations of every sort. I love the Christmas season so it was fun to decorate the apartment up a bit. My pride and joy is the tree that they sent me. I personally think it looks fantastic and definitely gets me in the Christmas spirit. I also got to help a family in my ward decorate their tree it was a lot of fun and made me feel like I was back home decorating the tree their. Unfortunately the tree was a little tall for one of the guys to put the star on top so I helped him out by letting him sit on my shoulders and then climbing the ladder. haha oh what fun!

                             So that is about all I have for this week. Things are going great and I am loving it out here. I love you all and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

 Love Elder Payne

Email: I'm going to be training!

Hello family,
                   So I may have forgotten to mention but this week is transfer week. It is crazy this past transfer has absolutely flown by. Who woulda thunk that 6 weeks can go by so stinkin fast. Well I guess I will get down to business and let you know what is going on for transfers.......Drumroll please......blubb blubb blubbb, rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr JOY TO THE WORLD! I am going to be training!!!!!! I'm really excited. I was kinda hoping I was going to be able to be training soon so I am really glad that I am getting to now. So I don't know who I am getting yet I will find out in the next couple of days, so I will let you know next week who I get and how they are. Elder Newcomb is heading down south a little bit and is going to be the District leader there.
                 So this past week was kind of slow because there was a ton of rain. I mean we got absolutely dumped on. There was a little bit of flooding in places so it was kind of scary. Luckily nobody in the ward got flooded too bad. Other than that it was a pretty regular week. I am really excited for the Christmas holiday coming up. I absolutely love Christmas. Like I told you last week I have been playing Christmas music since Thanksgiving. haha So I hope everything is going well back home. I'm sure the girls are excited for the Christmas break coming up. Well anyways I don't have much to comment on from back home because I guess you haven't sent your email yet. That's ok though I still Love you haha Oh one last thing the Book of Mormon challenge is awesome Thank you Lindsay for making that template it is hanging on my wall. I hope you all have been able to start and are enjoying it. Well I love you all

Love Elder Payne

Well it totally slipped my mind that I hit 6 months last friday haha Yes I got the package thank you so much for that. It was absolutely awesome. Yes i was able to burn a tie. Isn't it crazy that I am at 6 months already I don't know about all of you but it has absolutely flown by for me. Thank you for all of the love and support you always send my way . I love you all

Email: First Week in the Field!

Monday, June 25th

Hello Everyone,
                         Well I am almost through my first week in the field and it has been so great. I have been learning so much it is crazy . It was weird coming out into the field after being sheltered in the MTC for so long. Its like they want us to have as many spiritual experiences before thrusting us back out into the real world. I really love the area I am in. It is the Citrus Heights zone Van Maren ward area. I is one of the smaller zones. It is the furthest south zone in the entire mission. I was a little upset I didnt get to go up and see all of the reall pretty areas up north but this area is reaaly amazing. The size of the area I am lving in is about 5 miles by 5 miles so as you can expect it is an all bike area. Well my legs and butt are not exactly used to biking right now. We started out by only biking about 7 miles the first day then 10 the next and we have been riding about 14 to 15 miles every day since. Well even though we steadly increased the distance my legs and especially my butt have not acclimated as quickly. I swear the bike seat is made of stone because it hurts so bad. haha My trainer said that is will only take about a week or 2 to get used to the biking. My trainer is a really nice guy. He has been out almost 15 months. Its weird because he is getting to the point where he is almost done and I am just barely beginning. Anyways he is from South Jordan and played hockey in high school. Like I said he is a really nice guy and easy to get along with. I look forward to getting to know him better and learning from him.
                          The first few days pretty much all we have been doing is meeting important people in the ward. We have also visted all of the investigators in the area and the Less actives as well. The members here are really kind and really helpful. I look forward to serving around all of these great people. We are having a baptism thsi Saturday for an 11 year old girl. She is really sweet and reminds me a lot of Hannah. Her dad is less active and her mom is not a member. She decided to take the lessons because one of her friends lives in the ward. Overall everything has been fantastic. I had my first door slammed in my face tracting so that was absolutley awesome the best part is that it was the first door  knocked ever. I loved it haha I am really excited for the Oppurtunity to serve here and very greatful for thelove that I feel from all of you. I love you all so much and cant wait to here back from you. God bless you all.
                                                                                                  Love Elder Payne