Hey family! I wish I had time to read letters, but I have to skim them for now. So transfers took place Tuesday morning! We hopped in a van and it dropped a few of us off in Cedar City. I met Elder Ramirez! We're soooo different haha it's been pretty tough actually, but the Lord needs to humble us somehow so we can learn. He was inactive until 3 weeks before his mission, so he's still trying to leave his old ways behind. He can be a little intimidating sometimes! But yeah it's getting chilly up here! Still waiting for a white Christmas...very possible this year! haha take that. Anyway, the people are wonderful here! It's a weird adjustment being in family wards. This time we're covering two whole stakes haha. We have dinners practically every night, which saves me some money haha. Apparently I'm a good luck charm because every area (all two of them) that I come into, we have some golden investigators pop out of nowhere. One of them is a lady who was excommunicated but sincerely wants to return to the fold of God. We can't baptize her because of her situation, but her daughter also wants to be baptized! We haven't met her yet because her other sister doesn't want her to get baptized. There' s a little conflict there, but it'll come through eventually! I've met so many people that know people from Thatcher and everywhere else over there. One man's name is Rusty Olsen. He went on for like 10 minutes talking about how celestial Mel Palmer is and what a great influence he was to him. Bro Palmer was his seminary teacher. Bro Olsen wants Bro Palmer's phone number if maybe mom can find it! I also met someone that knows someone from Ft. Thomas! of all the places in this world... Oh and I met a Bro Leavitt last night who served in Bolivia on his mission. He served in the La Paz mission, and he and his wife have of course been to the Cochabamba temple and Machu Picchu. It was cool to chat with them!
This past Saturday we had a baptism! That's always a bonus. Her name is Tracy, and she has cancer but is apparently fighting it off really well, so that's good. She had been taught everything by the other missionaries. She was ready, except she needed to get married to her fiance. They had been engaged for 6 years haha. He's a member, and his name is Jairus. They have two little young ones haha. Anyway they rushed to get a marriage license this week, and their bishop was able to marry them and baptize her all in one service! First wedding on the mission!
Oh and I guess this area is actually English. Everyone told me that it was Spanish haha so I was mislead. BUT we talked to a Hispanic guy last night for a good 20 minutes or so, and I actually got to use some Spanish. He had some questions about which church was true and where truth comes from. I basically told him que Dios sabe sobre todas las cosas en este mundo...la verdad tambien...y quando nosotros preguntamos a dios mediante oracion, dios nos da las respuestas necesitamos en nuestras vidas! Short and simple haha Elder Ramirez obviously did all the talking and he didn't seem ultimately too interested, but we could tell he felt the spirit, and so I did my job! It was pretty cool.
Among other things, we met this awesome member that has a legitimate Book of Mormon cave installed in his backyard, equipped with a real Liahona and everything! haha oh man it's so awesome. When we all come back to tour and stuff, we'll hit up his house so you can see it. It's amazing. We thought that when he said he had a cave that it was just a hole in the ground, but it's like an ancient temple in his backyard! haha he also has the original painting of "The Gentle Christ" which can be found on page 195 in PMG. The artist Del Parson lives nearby, and they are good friends. He's the artist of Chirst holding the Lamb, Christ coming out of the tomb, and many many others. Rusty Olsen also has an original painting in his home too haha. It's pretty cool!
So that's about it this week! I wish I could write more, but I have no more time. The mission is getting tougher, but apparently so am I. Glad to see Mitchell is doing well! Keep praying for us! Elder Ramirez and I have our struggles getting along. Anyway I love each of you a ton! Thanks for your support! Have a beautiful week!
Elder Payne!
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