I'M STAYING!!

What in the world! Yeah so I'm staying in Buena Vista 2 for another transfer!! I totally thought I was leaving so I was saying bye to everyone this week and Stefani and her buddies gave me a "goodbye" gift with a note and everything haha. But yeah we got the call at like 10pm last night from Elder Stewart. He said "Elders we have a transfer call for you! ...are you ready? Elder Payne and Elder Linville, you will both be staying in Buena Vista 2! Elder Payne will stay as senior companion and district leader and Elder Linville will continue to be junior companion. Any questions?" AAHHHhHh I'm sooo happy! Elder linville said "oh praise Jesus!!" or something like that haha while I was yelling "YES!" We got like two or three texts from people in our area this morning saying how their prayers have been answered that we're both staying! The lord has made his will know unto us, so now it's time to capitalize and perform! We've already been setting some goals to become even better missionaries and to boost up the work in the area as well as in the Telegraph district! We're excited! We're anxiously engaged! Amen.

 

So other than all that, we've had a great week! We watched the broadcast last night.....suuuper bien! Like for real it was excellent! Go watch it all! It's only 2 hours of modern day revelation! The whole presentation revitalized our purpose as members and missionaries (which is the same purpose by the way! Preach my gospel page 1!) It showed us what we need to do, how to do it, and why we need to do it. And with the changing times, full time missionaries will be using the internet for digital proselyting soon enough. Pretty crazy! We'll see how all that unfolds! It was awesome to see all the young MTC missionaries though! Holy cow they look like 8th graders! That age change is fo real...it's amazing!

 

Umm...gosh what else did we do this week. Oh we got permission  to confirm Stefani on Monday night! What an awesome experience that was! and she got a limited use temple recommend interview right afterwards, so on Wednesday night we went to the temple to do baptisms!! Holy cow it was the best experience of my mission so far! The spirit was sooo strong and being with Stefani and seeing how far she's come in the past short month was incredible. Elder Linville struggled with the confirmations haha they were all Slovakian names! I got to baptize Kenna, Kate, Stefani, Elder Linville, then he baptized me, then I got to baptize some random kid too!!! All spanish names and I think even Kp and QP would be proud of my pronunciation! Silky smooth! Oh my gosh I was soo happy haha. I really hope they have instant replay cameras in the celestial kingdom because that experience was priceless! It's that type of experience that makes the entire 2 years absolutely and without question worth it.

 

I liked that picture of caboose mom because there's like 500 frozen yogurt places here in St. George so we got taken out for some yogurt by members twice last week haha. Gosh Chile! Man that's like the ultimate transfer! it kinda reminds me of when mom and I flew down to peru for the first time...it was kinda nerve racking! Neither of us knew what was going on until we found you! haha but that's awesome you will do great and heavenly father will in fact help you! He has to! He is bound when we do what he asks us! It'll be a great adventure to tell the kids one day. I'm also looking forward to that giant flag haha I wish I could have one! Anyway we need to split! Love you guys!

 

Love,

Elder Payne

Thanks for the B-Day love Mom!

Hey family! That's awesome that Bryson's all blessed and holy now! Wish I could have been there! The new floors are lookin good mom! We have a wooden floor here at the Bardsley's and when I first got here like 4 months ago I was kind of skeptical. But now I love wooden floors! They're so easy to clean! haha well that's awesome sounds like things are going pretty good!

 

Well I don't have a whole lot of time today! We went on exchanges with two other companionships...one on Wednesday, and one on Friday. On Wednesday I got a trial missionary Elder Probst to come to our area for the day. It was great! He's an interesting fellow haha but he helped me open my sweet birthday package that night!! Thanks for the stuff mother! I'm saving the card for my real birthday haha so I'm excited for that! I've been putting the backpack and speedometer to use this week! On friday I went with Elder Wade to his area. Spanish work! I got to pray a bunch and read some scriptures haha so it was fun!

 

So the ZL's told me that I'm probably going to get transferred next week. They said that a few of the zone leaders are going to get released and they'll need some replacements. That would be cool to be a zone leader, but I'll be transparent with you guys...I hope to stay here for another transfer! I love these people so much and we've set "baptismal dates" for less-active members that we've been working with for the past 4 months to go do baptisms in the temple! It'll be tough to say bye to them! But I'm planning on leaving, so I'll be saying bye to everyone this week :(

 

So Stefani went on a random and unexpected trip to California and missed her confirmation yesterday! We were bummed because that also meant that she would miss the two temple trips planned for this week since she wouldn't be a member yet! So we called president leonard and got permission to confirm her tonight haha so that's the plan! We should be going to do temple baptisms on Wednesday this week! We're sooooo excited!! Pictures to come next week! Oh and the Bardsley's have a daughter and her husband moving in soon, so regardless of whether or not I get transferred, we'll be leaving their house within the next week or so! I'm so sad! Such a nice place with even nicer owners! We'll be moving in with the Burninghams...they're very humble and awesome! Should be good!

 

Anyway, have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Payne!

 

Stefani's Baptism!

Well hey I liked the emails! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! haha Chile in a couple weeks...WOW! good luck kp! Mom I liked your scripture because it's the one we're memorizing as a district. We decided a couple weeks ago to memorize and use that as our district scripture to add a little cheer and optimism to our lives as missionaries because a lot of the missionaries in our mission and even in my district have been fighting off discouragement. Whatever little bit helps! I'll probably share that part of your letter at DTM this week if that's okay! haha thanks! Oh and I'm excited to come home to new floors! Hopefully they'll be done by then! should be! haha

 

So yeah we finally got it done this week...Stefani was baptized! The program itself was kinda stressful at first because we combined the baptisms of Stefani and her sister Destini. We were supposed to get a piano player and she didn't show up and we were just running around for signatures and all kinds of stuff, but I couldn't help but smile through the whole program. Such a special spirit was there! There were sooo many people there to support these girls! Like 150! We had to relocate to the chapel because there were so many haha. Despite the two of them attending different wards in different stakes, it all came together for a few minutes that Friday night. In a nutshell and according to tarzan, two wards, one family!

 

We've been teaching her for a month now, and she's super golden! We bore testimony in her ward last sunday and I gave her a shout out for being sooo golden haha she appreciated that. But seriously she's the first investigator that I personally have invited to be baptized who started to cry because of the invitation. That was evidence to me that her heart is pure and honest and that she really has a firm desire to be baptized for the right reasons. Plus she's the youngest investigator I've ever taught to have accepted Moroni's challenge and get her answer the first try. "Well I knelt down and prayed, and then I just waited for Heavenly Father to answer me, just like you told me Elder Payne!" She knows it's true!!

 

Well the past month of teaching her has been a blast. Her and her two friends and their families are sooo fun haha. Never a dull moment! But beyond all the laughs and the spiritual experiences we've shared, I've learned a lot from Stefani and about myself. She's always so bright and full of the spirit. She's like the best example and epitome of happiness! Like seriously she always has a smile on her face! It's almost scary! But it's awesome! She's basically become like the little sister I never had, and I've learned through teaching her what it means to have charity for another person. A key component of charity is your thoughts. I've noticed that I've spent more time thinking about her needs and the needs of everyone I'm teaching more than my own. When you start building those relationships and just care about what they need in their lives, it's inevitable! You'll just start loving them and caring for them! It's the best! So I think it's safe to say that Stefani has been my favorite investigator so far. She has helped me to grow and become a more aware missionary and a better me! She's awesome! And because of her and her fellowshippers, the Jorgensen's and the Hardman's, and everyone else I've gotten to know and love in this area, it's going to be super tough to leave Buena Vista when that time comes. Harder than leaving home! But that's the mission for ya...that's what happens!

 

Yesterday after church we had the opportunity of being a part of Jesse's ordination to the Aaronic priesthood! We've been working with him since day 3 or 4 in this area...for like almost 4 months! He's finally taken that step! It was sooo rewarding to have seen the change that has taken place in his life and to see the impact that Heavenly Father has in those less-active individuals that choose to come back into the  fold. He really does rejoice more in the one than in the ninety and nine that went not astray. Such a blessing! We're hoping to get to the temple to do baptisms with him and his wife! And we're going with Stefani next week! and hopefully a few more people that we've been working with will be able to go as well before transfers! Like Nikki and Carlos! We'll see!

 

I love being a missionary! There's absolutely no replacement for this work. There's nothing more important and definitely nothing more rewarding than bringing others unto Christ. How great is my joy! And I only have a year of it left! But working with less actives is preparing me to be an effective home teacher for when I get home! The work never ceases until the Savior's feet touch this earth once again!

 

Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Payne!

Summer Time!

Well it's warming up over here! We finally hit triple digits yesterday. Everyone we meet says something like "Oh this is nothing yet! Just wait until next month!! haha!" Then I tell them I'm from Arizona and they just say "..oh well this is nothing to you then.." haha it's pretty funny. Don't worry though mom we're drinking plenty of water despite the fact that we'll be riding our bikes in 100 degree weather. No cars for us! Plus it's a good excuse to get inside someone's door.... "Oh my gosh what are you guys doing riding bikes when it's this hot?! Come in and get some water!!!"

 

Well we're going to be baptizing Stefani this next week! She's so awesome! She's extremely elect too...a few weeks ago she said to me "well Elder Payne, I knelt down in my room and asked Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and then I waited...just like you told me to! And eventually I got my answer!" Then she went on to say that she knows the church is true! She's only 13 years old! That's crazy...she's the youngest person I've taught to receive an answer of the truth. Needless to say, Elder Linville and I definitely don't underestimate the potential of this young woman. She's super out going and is very submissive. She's golden! She'll be baptized with her older sister this week on Friday! And at the end of this month she's going with the young women to do baptisms for the dead at the Manti temple! We're hoping to be able to go do baptisms in the St. George temple before transfers at the end of this month as well. We're allowed and encouraged to do that with our recent converts! We're sooo excited!

 

Speaking of recent converts, Nikki is doing really well! We've finished up lesson 5 in preach my gospel and we'll be re-teaching the first four lessons this week. She wants to go do baptisms as well, so we're in the process of getting bishop involved and make that goal an action! Our other recent convert, Carlos, is gone for a few weeks and when he gets back he should be getting the priesthood. Then we'll be able to go do baptisms with him as well! We're so pumped!

 

This week after a lesson with Stefani, we decided to go down the street to the Barrows to ask about some less-actives in the ward that they know. Well, we got there and all the kids (there was like 7 or 8 of them there) were super happy to see us because apparently some of them had accidentally put the wrong fuel into their dad's four wheeler and completely ruined the engine, and when sis Barrow called him about it, he just hung up on her and was super ticked. So they were glad to see us so that the Spirit would be at least a little present when the man himself showed up. Haha he burst through the door all ticked off and saw us and said to the kids "oh....you guys are lucky the missionaries are here!" Then he proceeded to chew them all out and yell at them haha the things we get ourselves into sometimes amazes me. After that episode of fatherhood 101, they all invited us to lunch on Friday. Blessings! So yeah I don't know if we were in the wrong place or the right place at the right time or the wrong time, but either way, we had a super good lunch on Friday haha.

 

Other than that, we got two new ward mission leaders yesterday. Our old ward mission leader for the Silverstone ward, Brother Minus, has really been an influential figure for me. He's a great man and has taught me much more than just missionary things. He's taught me how to deal with people and what to do in different situations...he's taught me skills that I will take beyond the mission field. He's been a good role model for me! Whoever comes to pick me up in one year, I'll have to take them to meet Bro Minus! He's awesome!

 

Well I can tell I've come a long way because during testimony meeting I had no fear whatsoever to share my testimony with wards that are like twice as big as thatcher 3rd ward. Ether 12:27 is real! Heavenly Father is helping me every step of the way, and all I have to do is trust in Him and work with Him to help those I've been called and placed in the path to teach. Plus I have a great companion who isn't afraid to share his testimony and will share something any chance he gets. He's a great example to me! Well I hope you guys have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Payne!