May 29, 2012
Dear Family and Friends,Oh man this week was great!!! We’re seeing so many blessings from the Lord and the missionary work is exploding here in Molalla! The members are on fire and we are truly seeing the changes that come through real conversion. My companion Elder T is a beast and he’s not going down easy. Elder T only has a few more days on his mission and is a great example to me as he isn’t getting trunky but getting even more exited. He didn’t even want to take a P-day and he just wanted to work and I’m down with that!!!!! Everything is going well and I’m so thankful for the things that I am learning through the spirit and my companion’s great example. The other day after we got done studying Spanish I began to eat a little lunch and he said something like, “What are you doing Buddy, there’s no time to eat, we’ve got to work! So since that day we haven’t taken lunch and we have just been blessed to have people give us food along the way, like the old days of missionary work without purse or script. It’s pretty cool because we don’t have to buy lunch now and if we end up not eating lunch, we can just fast ha-ha. I like his fire and he’s definitely helped me to step up my game. No lunch from now on, time to trust in the Lord and that He will provide los alimentos.
Things are going great and we are seeing a big change in the mission. I went to the OPM Leadership meeting last week and basically the entire meeting was about, Amino (excitement) faith and goals. The Assistants to the President were getting everyone pumped up and waking people up from their spiritual naps ha-ha. It was a sweet meeting and it was a cool sight to see President Morby dropping the hammer and getting everybody pumped up. CHYEAH! This week was amazing and we had the opportunity to see the Lords hand and many miracles! Sacrament meeting was great as we saw many investigators and less active members there!!!!! Many less actives that haven’t been to church for years were there and being fellowshipped by family and friends. We had 80 people in Sacrament meeting and that’s the most we have ever had and I know it is because of the Lords divine help. The members are on fire and so excited about the gospel as we are encouraging everyone to read in the Book of Mormon. We have to start setting some more baptismal dates and I know that they will come as we continue to strengthen the Saints. We are teaching many member referrals and I have seen that this is helping the members to become more focused on the gospel. This week we were blessed to teach many people and this week I taught the most people I have ever taught on my mission. This week we will try to teach 50 people as it’s not impossible with the Lords help. It’s like what Preach My Gospel says, “teach where you find, find where you teach”! My boy G is helping us out a ton as he gets ready for his mission and he is inviting people to be baptized and come to church, he’s such a G!
Thanks for the great letter and the details about my boys speaking in Sacrament meeting. That really pumped me up as I am starting to come to grips with the fact that I have a very short time to share the best message in the world and I want to leave it all on the mat with no regrets. I haven’t gotten the soccer jerseys you sent yet, but I hope they get here today because we are having a Branch activity and we are playing soccer in the new home of one of the members. She bought a home and a large bit of farmland but she has to remodel the whole house and all the grass had to be cut since it was like 5 feet high. Well los hermano’s cut the grass in her farmland into a futbol field and everyone’s getting excited to play some futbol. We hope to have a good turn out!
I could go on forever about how much I love this area and the people but I have work to do and need to get going. Things are going great and I feel like the Spirit of the Lord is truly blessing this area as the members are exercising great faith. I love you guys so much and I am so glad to be out here on my mission. I know this church is true and that the Savior lives.
Thanks for your support and prayers!
Love,
Elder Payne
