May 17, 2011
Things are starting to really pick up here in Seaside. I had to bust out my Journal to remember what happened because last week flew by pretty quick. But first I’ll let you know that the work is picking up a ton. Things are going amazing here in Seaside.
Last week was my first week teaching a real investigator here and it was such a good feeling. For the last couple of weeks we have just been teaching members and tracting but after all that work the Lord has blessed us. We were able to find two new investigators and one wants to get baptized. His name is Charlie Reel and he is 13 years old. The missionaries taught his Mom but she stopped taking the lessons because she has been really busy. Well one day we drove over there and gave Charlie a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked if we could teach him. The next day we saw him, he had read all the way to Lehi's dream and said he felt what we explained to him was the Spirit. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. His mom is best friends with one of the members in the Ward and she is all for it. We are going to try and start teaching her as well and get them both involved. It is great because after we taught Charlie, one of the members in his grade invited him to Mutual. Then someone invited him to the Father and Sons campout and he came to both. He is getting swept up and fellowshipped by the members and he is a great kid. Our other investigators name is Juliana; she is about 60 years old. She is a wonderful lady and has such a loving heart. She is really good friends with a member named Sister Abrahamson. We will try and get sister Abrahamson to bring her to church so that will be good. Not to mention we have found a bunch of potential investigators too. Also a guy that moved down here from Vancouver Washington named German had been taking the missionary discussions. He wants to be baptized as well. The area is going great and I know that the hard work and our faith in the Lord are helping the work in this area to grow.
We have been doing some pretty cool things out here. Last night we had a family home evening for the young adults and a lot of people came out. It was at the Symonds house and we had cake after. We are working a lot with the members and it’s pretty sweet that we have their trust. We had a pretty awesome P-day yesterday because Brother Foote took us (the whole district) to go bowling. Brother Foote is the Ward Mission leader in Tillamook and is the man. He always rolls with the missionaries and shares the gospel with anyone he sees. After bowling, he went up to the guy behind the counter and invited him to take the missionary discussions while everyone was taking off their shoes. He is fearless! Anyway, he told me that the Lord definitely watches out for us because he got car jacked in Portland the other week by this Gangster but made it out alright. He told me he drove around Portland for like 4 hours while the gangster barked out orders.
My companionship is going great. Elder Allred and I are able to teach with unity and the members can really feel the Spirit from what they tell us. He is a good Elder and is trying his best.
I don’t really have any funny stories this week. I can say that I know for a 100 percent certainty that God lives and is aware of me. I know prayers are answered and I can rely on Him whenever I need to. I love the Lord and His work and really appreciate everyone’s love and support which allows me to be here at this time.
Love,
Elder Payne
