April 2, 2012
Dear Family,I don’t think I’ll be able to explain to you guys in this letter about all the amazing experiences that I am having in this area but I’ll try to give you a good recap. I have been so busy in the mornings recording all of the miracles that are happening in my journal so I’ll probably be sending you a another journal pretty soon ha-ha. This week has been amazing and my boy Elder T and I were able to reach many of our goals. We are like one as we think the same and are willing to do anything to do the Lords will. We have set some pretty high goals for the month of April but we have faith that the Lord will help us to complete them and more than that we will have to work harder than ever. I’ll talk more about the goals, district and plan of action on how to achieve these things in my letter to President M but I know this is going to require some major trabajo (work).
General Conference was sweet and I learned so much. I received the prompting that I will need to write my testimony to a lot of my friends and family and really let them know how I feel about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and all that I desire is there happiness and salvation. I loved the message from Elder Holland as he is a G and also the talk by President Thomas S. Monson in the morning session on Sunday. Priesthood session was great and it’s time to get the members out to save the lost sheep. We are so pumped out here in my area to work with the members and get these people back, Chyeah!!!!!! This weekend we were running around everywhere as we wanted to watch the conference with all of our investigators and families that are progressing. Saturday morning we watched conference at the R house and made waffles for everyone before the session started. We basically invited all of the youth over to watch the first session and made them breakfast to get everyone excited about it. Our investigator T showed up and the G family. It was awesome to see the youth all gathered around to hear a prophets voice. We had a lot of people there and it was really fun. The second session we watched with the S family and there we tried to help the little kids to pay attention ha-ha. On Sunday we went around in the morning reminding people of conference before and that was pretty successful ha-ha. The last session on Sunday we had our investigator D show up with his brother to watch it at the Presidents house. We then talked about baptism and D’s little brother committed to being baptized too. The Branch President then went to the visitor’s center with them and we went to make some more visits! All in all it was a super good conference but I do have to admit I didn’t get too much out of a lot of talks as I was trying to make sure everyone else was listening and paying attention ha-ha.
You heard about my boy G and how he just decided to go on a mission last week? This kid is on fire!!!! He has come out with us every day this week and went to all 5 sessions of conference with us. He has helped us out a ton and he is definitely going to be a big contributor to changing the missionary work here and getting a lot of his less active relatives to come back to the fold. He is the man and I’m glad he is so willing to help us out.
Well district meetings are going awesome and everyone is coming out of their shells. Like I said, my goal for the District is that everyone is just pumped and excited to be a missionary and through that conviction they will be able to share their testimonies and feelings with more sincerity letting the Holy Ghost work through them. One of my boys Elder A had the training and practice assignment about how we can teach even though there are distractions during lessons. To prove his point and help us to improve, we went to the gym in the church and while I tried to teach a principle, one of the missionaries had to hit a piñata in the background while wearing a blind fold. Now that’s what I’m talking about, let’s think outside the box, Chyeah. Things are going great and I’ll send the rest of what’s going on here in my letter to the President! I know this church is true and I will testify of the truthfulness of the restoration until the day I die, and then afterward as well.
Elder Payne
Well this week has been amazing and we have seen miracles due to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and our willingness to find the elect. My boy Elder T and I were able to reach many of our goals. We are like one as we think the same way and we are willing to do anything to do the Lords will. We have set some very high goals for the month of April but we have faith that the Lord will help us to complete them.
We also understand and know that we will have to work harder than ever. It is our goal this transfer to double the church attendance of the branch by reactivating all the less active members. We have also set the goal this month to baptize 50 people!!!! I know that this is a pretty high goal but I KNOW, that we can do it. The Lord has been preparing this area for some great things and there is no reason why we cannot reach this goal.
We have already set 6 baptismal dates in the last three days with part member families and people that the Lord has put in our path!! I know this is a big goal but with all goals it requires greater faith, more planning, and more hard work. We are completely willing to do whatever it takes to find 25 new investigators this week and invite them to be baptized on the 29th of April. We have 6 that have committed already and I know that they will make it and be baptized. We have 2 Sundays to find these people and get them to go to church. We have expressed these desires to our Heavenly Father and have received inspiration and revelation on how we can reach these goals. We have decided that our P-days should be spent with the members, less actives and investigators so we can further develop relationships with them. We will take them to the temple or do wholesome recreational activities so they can feel the fire we have for growing the Branch!
We know that it is nearly impossible to teach 50 lessons a week just with two missionaries so we have set apart two nights a week with the branch where we will go on splits with the members so we can double our work. We know that service is super important and that instead of just doing it by ourselves we should involve the youth. We have already seen the fruits of working with the youth and members to get them pumped up and excited about the gospel. From setting these high goals this month I have come to realize that the only true way to baptize more or reach higher goals is to use all the assets that we have around us and work smarter. Two missionaries can be powerful but if they do not use their ward or branch, they won’t be able to achieve the full potential that they can in the area. That is what I have realized at this time in my mission and now it is time to get crackin.
We have been telling all the members about our goals to double the church attendance and baptize 50 people. They are responding with great enthusiasm and have a greater desire to help us achieve our goals; they thank us for working hard and want to know what they can do to help out. I think we have started something exciting here and know it’s just time to carry it out. We will pray and fast to have the guidance of the Lord but I am certain that there will be some major grow in this Branch this month and the Lord has and will bless the Saints. Well President M, this is my goal and my vision, the District is doing great and everyone is 100% obedient and willing to serve the Lord. I love being a missionary, keep us in your prayers and I just hope and pray that we can achieve these goals we have set!
Love,
Elder Payne
