Dear Family,
I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed my letter last week and didn’t think it was too preachy. I thought it might have been too much but I’m glad I can tell you how I feel and you guys understand what’s really going on out here. Things are going great and I’m loving life. After that spiritual experience I had in the temple, things have really changed. I have a greater love for my companion Elder S. This kid is a G and I’m so grateful for the time we have had together to work our butts off. We have both changed extremely and I’m grateful for the example he has been to me. It is such a good feeling to look at people from an eternal perspective and not to judge them for their actions, but for who they are. Everyone faces individual challenges and you never know what’s going on in their mind. All I can do is be a good example and lend a hand if they need it. That’s what I have learned from Elder S, don’t judge but be willing to help in any way possible to lift someone up. I just sent a letter to my boy Scott to go check out General Conference as that is an experience of a lifetime. I just sent it today so I’m afraid it won’t get to him in time but if you somehow see him on facebook, let him know that I wanted him to check it out. I’m so pumped for General Conference as it truly is an opportunity to hear the voice of a prophet of the Lord. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the mouth piece of God and I’m stoked for this conference. I’ll write down my impressions and let you know what I learned.
To answer your questions that you sent me, Question, did you get to see Elder H at the combined meeting when L. Tom Perry came to speak to your missions? I did not get to see Elder H as he was in the North part of the Kennewick mission at the time and only the South part got to come down for the conference. How did it go? It was really awesome and Elder L. Tom Perry basically just read us from the Book of Mormon and taught us about some of the stories and how they relate to us ha-ha. Elder C was there too and that was a great talk that he shared with us. I can’t wait for conference, I will have to miss a few sessions due to work, but will go back and watch them on LDS.org. Let me know your spiritual impressions okay? I’ll let you know what I learn from the spirit Dad and then we can discuss it and see if the same things hit us.
Anyway, like I said things are going great out here. Last Sunday I was able to bare my testimony and I didn’t cry. I guess sometimes you’re feeling really emotional and other days you’re not ha-ha. I testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon as I know it is the word of God. Just last week I finished reading the Book of Mormon all the way through in Spanish and I took Moroni's Challenge again to ask heavenly father if the book is true. I knew the Book of Mormon was true but I have learned that you can ask for further confirmations so the spirit can witness to you that these things are true. I love reading the book of Mormon in Spanish and it is so awesome. Not to mention that the day I finished it, we taught a lesson to these Hispanic people and my Spanish was flowing better than it ever had before. I’m not sure who said it but I heard that if you want to become fluent in a language, if you read the book of Mormon all the way through in that language, you will become fluent. I heard that a prophet said it but I’m not sure who did. I can testify that’s true though as I feel like a native now, just got to improve that Mexican accent, vato. When my Spanish gets a little bit better and people ask me where I’m from, I’m just going to say Chile or Michoacán, Mexico and see what they say ha-ha, Chyeah!!!!!
We had some pretty good experiences the other day but first I’m going to hit you with some bad news. I think I may need to get my tonsils taken out because I have some problems with them. I’m going to see Brother F today, a doctor in my ward, and see what he thinks. I have had troubles breathing in the morning and I’m going to ask him what’s up. But to be honest, that’s not even bad news, that’s just what happens in life. Anyway let me fill you in on a couple of things that have been going on this past week. There is this lady in our ward named Sister M. She is from Columbia and I always talk to her in Spanish. Anyway, her Mother who is like 95 years old is here visiting and she is from Columbia. She is so awesome and reminds me just of Abuelita. She grabs my arm when she talks to me and ends almost every sentence by saying, “El Senor es todo”!! (The Lord is everything!) At church Elder S and I sat down with her and she told us awesome stories about her life and how when she was 71 years old, she played in a soccer game against all these men. They would chant, Grandma, Grandma, but she showed them all up when she scored a goal and everyone started running around yelling GOAL!!!!!!!! The emotion on her face was priceless as she told the story and acted out the goal she made!!!!!!!!! I love old ladies and I love Abuelita, I will write her soon and hope to listen to her crazy stories one day soon too.
Any funny experiences this week, well I have a couple but I’ll tell you about this one. We took S to church last Sunday and S loves sharing the gospel. When we take him tracting with us, he contacts everyone, no matter if they are on a bicycle or running. Well, we were standing in the church greeting people and President W, the Stake President, came up and greeted us. S saw that as an opportunity to invite the Stake President to learn about the Gospel. He said, Sir would you have 2 minutes so we could share with you a message about the Book of Mormon. Ha-ha, Seth is a great kid and we could use a million more missionaries out here just as bold and valiant.There is so much to do it is crazy. I want to write O, V, and M y todas las personas en Chile pero no tengo el tiempo suficiente. Well, I’ll try to further get organized and start popping out some letters. I love you guys so much and I’m so grateful for the support you’re giving me. I’m giving it all I’ve got out here and sometimes I forget that I need to trust in the Lord and let him guide me. But it is a learning process and I’m grateful for the lessons I have learned so far through the Spirit.
Love,
Elder Payne
