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!

 

The Downward Slope...

Well my friends this Thursday is my year mark! That's crazy! We're planning on celebrating by having a few teaching appointments and finding activities. Woohoo! The work moves on! We'll be getting a new mission president in about a month, so things will probably be changing a little bit. His name is president Center, from Dayton Ohio, and he's a veterinarian. Man I spelled that wrong. Oh well! Yeah so this last week we had a leadership training meeting in which we talked about the importance of creating a smooth transition from one mission president to the next. President Leonard will meet with President Center for about 2 hours to show him around the mission home and the mission office and maybe eat some lunch, and that's it. So it's up to us as the leadership to keep what President Leonard has been preaching for the past 3 years in our hearts and accept President Center's new input will be and keep the work at a consistent if not better altitude. President Leonard is afraid the baptisms are going to drop. We can't have that happen! We have high expectations in this mission.

 

Hmm well this week was very slow because of high school graduation and summer and memorial day weekend. Everyone was either gone or had family over and didn't want to talk with us haha. All of our investigators cancelled appointments so they could go out of town for the weekend haha. Other than Christmas this is probably the worst holiday for missionary work! But we battled through and tried our best to stay busy. Come what may and love it! We've been doing a ton of biking back and forth in our area. Poor Elder Linville...it's his first biking area and he's driving like a $5 walmart mongoose bike. His front brakes sound like an 18 wheeler engine braking, and everytime he slams on them my ears cringe and he just laughs the whole time haha.  He's seriously the funniest companion I've had so far. I think Heavenly Father saw fit for me to have a comical relief transfer haha. It's the best! We get along great and despite him not being in shape and walking up some the the big hills in our area in the warm spring air, he loves this area! We're doing well.

 

Well I got the mother's/father's day package sent out today! It's on its way! I was reading in Alma 29:4 the other day and I learned about asking the Lord for things. To me that verse basically says that the Lord really does grant according to our desires because our desires affect our thoughts, which affect our actions, which will affect our consequences, at which point the Lord comes in. So if our desire is to back out of a trial because it's too hard and you dwell on that, then the Lord will give a big sigh and disappointedly say, "Alright..." and it will happen. On the other hand if we desire to have the strength to overcome our trials, then Heavenly Father will bless us with that strength and push us onward. So the moral of the story is watch where your desires are leading you! Anyway you guys have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Payne!

 

"In the mouth of two or three witnesses.​.."

Woah! What a week! It's been crazy and fun and stressful and awesome and everything! First of all, thanks for the emails! Sorry mom that package will be delayed a week or so because I'm deciding to throw dad's father's day package in it as well haha so I'm still scrambling to put that together with the extremely limited free time that I have these days. It'll be coming! I have no idea what I want for my bday! I have no time to think about myself and my needs haha and to be honest I don't really want to...so you can surprise me! I'll think of something...when are you sending it?

 

Hmm, well I've had four different companions this week! Transfers are ridiculous these days haha. On monday Elder Bradford and I said bye to everyone, and we shipped him off Tuesday morning, so I went with Elder Welch for the rest of the day in his area until 5pm, which is when we picked up good old Elder Linville! I'm serving with Levi Hughes! haha but for real Elder Linville is a clown and he's awkwardly awesome! I love that guy! He reminds me of Elder Von Kampen a little bit, so it's been great. He's been out for 13 months and was in Delta for 6 months. This is his first walking/biking area and he's gained like 40 pounds on his mission, so we're getting him in shape real fast! haha he's from San Marcus, California. The night we got him, we got a call from the Assistants saying that we're also getting a surprise visa waiter in our area! Haha woohoo! so we went to the trainer's meeting the next day and picked him up. Elder Shipp from Georgia! He's going to Sao paulo brazil on his mission and he's a temp in our mission!

 

We had a blast for five days and then got a call from the assistant's this morning saying that Elder Shipp is going to the Pineview stake instead! Darn! So he's leaving us already! haha oh well we got some pics and signed his journal and all that jazz and packed him up and shipped (haha) him off all within one hour! whew!

 

Nikki's baptism was wonderful! We got it all put together and it was a success! She was super nervous! but she's seriously the most golden investigator I've ever had! Elder Bradford graced us with his presence as well! It was a good day. She was confirmed yesterday! Yaaaay! She's awesome! We had another recent convert who is our ward mission leader, Bro Reed, conduct the baptism. He's black and barely knows what he's doing half of the time because he's so new to the church, so it was super funny and it almost felt like a baptist service or something haha. But it was awesome and the spirit was definitely there!

 

Hmm well I'm already out of time so I gotta cut off right here! Thanks for all the support and good luck to everyone in there endeavors this week! As they say in Brazil, "tuda bem!" chao

 

Elder Payne

 

Adios Elder Bradford!

Hey guys so I don't have a whole lot of time so I'll keep this brief! First of all, the call was awesome! Thanks for the quick little chat! Haha transfer calls came in and here's the scoop:

 

Elder Payne is staying in Buena Vista 2 as District Leader, and his new companion is Elder Linville!

Elder Bradford is transferring to Gunnison as senior companion with Elder Brawn in a biking area!

 

Elder Bradford will be leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 9 am. I'll be with Elder Welch (from Gilbert!) in his area until 5 pm, and then I will pick up Elder Linville once the transfer van comes back from up north. Then it's back to work!

 

I'll try to be sending out that mother's day package soon. Should be fun for ya, mom! This week we did a bunch of service projects, moving rocks and getting our hands dirty. We put Stefani on date, which I already told you. She's so excited! She's been waiting for someone to ask her to be baptized for a long time! We finally got a less-active couple that we've been working with for the past 12 weeks out to church yesterday!! Chris hasn't been in like 10 years! That was exciting. Other than all that, Nikki will be getting baptized this Saturday!! Woohoo! Thanks again for everything! I love you guys!

 

Elder Payne!

The Honest in Heart!

Wow yeah sounds like mom had quite the adventure this past week! Hey that's really cool though about that little opportunity to share the gospel! Keep at it and you'll see miracles, whether they be big or tiny. We have experiences like that almost every day! (except we're not nurses at a hospital). It's easier for you because you don't have a name tag like missionaries, so you can build trust easily with anyone, because you're "normal!" One of our ward mission leaders, Bro Minus (we call him Bro Plus) has said that if you see a person three times with positive interaction, you automatically have a friendship with them. Once you've established that relationship, you can then slip the gospel into a conversation and work your way to being as bold and loving as you need to be to help them make that next step. So keep at it! That's super exciting!! Thank goodness Van's okay! Well Dad you've had a lot thrown at you these past few months, but at the same time it seems like things are improving. That's motivation on my part and hearing the progress of my family is keeping me out here working hard every week! So thanks!!

 

Well we met all of our goals for this week! Heavenly Father decided to bless us and help us achieve them. We had an awesome ZTM this past week. At MLC President Leonard started off by telling the zone leaders in the mission that "we've lost our purpose" and "our goals for next month are shameful" haha so the training in ZTM was all about our purpose as missionaries. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I just want you guys to know, I can still share that in Spanish! haha anyway, it was personally one of the best and most sacred meetings on my mission. Our leaders are bold and loving, and I swear Christ was speaking to us the whole time. I felt revitalized and ready to baptize!

 

Well Elder Bradford and I tried to incorporate many of the things we learned from ZTM into our area to cap off the week. We've found two new investigators since then. One of them, Richard, has a girlfriend and a daughter and they all want to be baptized at some point. We've only met Richard, so we'll probably be picking up the other two as investigators this week. We also set an appointment with Stefanie who is like 12 and goes to church with her friends. She lives clear across town but wants to take the lessons in our area because her parents tell her to go to church with her friends. (They must be non members or less active or something) So we'll start teaching her tonight, and she wants to be baptized and go to a youth temple trip this summer! We'll work with her and see what we can do!

 

Well, we're definitely being led to the honest in heart, so Keith your prayers are being answered! So are ours! haha finding has been a big struggle in this area, so this has been a tremendous blessing. We should have at least one baptism in the area this month...Nikki! We'll just have to see what happens at transfers next week! This is our last week of training! Chances are one of us will be transferred out! It'll be sad to see either one of us go, but that's the mission for ya!

 

Yeah so let's plan on 3 pm my time on Sunday! We'll be getting out of church and we'll head back home for the calls. I'll call on the mission cell phone that we carry around with us all day. Should be fun! No calling cards!! Woohoo seems like last week we did the whole skyping thing! Haha alright well talk to you then!

 

Love,

Elder Payne!