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| Rocking the combover! |
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| Sharing a message. |
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| Haning with the fellows. |
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| Elder Allred, Elder Payne and the Beaudoin's |
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| Elder Allred and Elder Payne |
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| Dodgeball at the Seaside Ward, |
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Photo's From Seaside, Oregon
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Week Number Two in Seaside, Oregon
April 26, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
This place is the best!!!!!! It's like a vacation out here! Well it’s not exactly a vacation but it is way different from my last area. One of the members gave us a key to their house to go do Laundry and raid the fridge if we want. They are the best family ever. This place is like a 180 degree change from my last area. We live right by the ocean; you can go street contacting right next to the beach. We aren't allowed to go on the beach though, it’s off limits. The area is really nice though, it’s still pretty cold and rains a lot but things will get better. It is a tourist town and it gets really packed in the summers so we will be pretty busy. Things are amazing out here though, it’s a pretty small town so everyone pretty much knows everyone. Last week we received like 14 referrals from members and we are going to work. The Lord is blessing this area and I see some success coming in the future. Elder Allred and I are working hard and the members out here support the missionary work 100%.
I’m about to turn 20 May 1st but it doesn't really feel like it. I feel like the only thing that has really changed is that my beard is getting thicker and I might have to start shaving twice a day now. But there’s nothing I really need, just whatever you send will be fine. Being out here makes you realize that material things don't matter for these 2 years because all I can fit in my suit cases are my clothes and books. I left a ton of stuff back in my last area that Elder White inherited. I might just buy some sweats out here that say Seaside so I can always remember this area. A cool fact is that the movie the Goonies was filmed like 20 minutes north of us in Astoria. I’m going to have to go check out the Goonie house one day on a P-day!
My companions name is Cooper Allred and he is from Orem, Utah. He is a really nice guy and we get along pretty well. He has been out for about 14 months and has served in an English speaking area his entire mission. He doesn't know any Spanish so when I do language study he just does his own thing ha-ha. He has desires to work hard and this will be a good transfer. Of course we are very different and this is the 3rd companion I’ve had that is really quiet. I’m starting to think my Mission President is trying to teach me a lesson or something. Well, my last companion, Elder White was really quiet and by the end of our companionship he was able to talk and express himself pretty well so I have hopes that by the end of this transfer Elder Allred and I will be able to sit down and have a nice conversation without it getting weird. With time we will be great friends, but right now I’m just trying to get to know the area well so I can help out more.
I’ll let you know what’s been going on this week and some funny experiences. Well, I’ll start with what we did this week. We basically stopped by all the members’ homes so I could introduce myself and we asked them if there was anything we could do for them. By doing this we acquired a ton of referrals and will be pretty busy this week. Our Ward mission leader is on fire and is the man. It's totally different from where I came from but I’m so glad I started in Keizer and got that hard working background right off the bat.
Some of the members out here have been giving me a hard time because I’m the new guy but it’s all in good fun. We went to go eat with this family that owns a car dealership. His name is Bruce Smith so he named his car dealership BS Auto ha-ha. He is a really cool guy and used to be in a big rock band. He gave me a hard time probably because I asked him where he got the name for his car dealership ha-ha. I told you about the family that gave us the keys to their house so we could go do our laundry and eat their food, well they are the best. They’re the Symonds’s family and he is a really funny guy. On the night before Easter I got a call from a number but I didn’t get to the phone in time and the person left a message. The message said, " And Lo the Bunny Cometh to thy door, checketh thou for thine basket before thy becometh wet with rain. I then looked outside the door and there were two huge Easter egg baskets full of candy. I later found out that it was Brother Symonds that hooked us up. It was pretty funny because that was the last thing I was expecting to hear on my answering machine. I’m going to get a lot of my funny stories from this guy because he is the man!
We went to go teach this little guy named Lawrence that just turned 8. He is about to get baptized so we went to go teach him what the meaning of baptism is and why we get baptized. Well after about 15 minutes we taught him about everything he needed to know. We asked him what he learned and he told us exactly what we taught him, almost word for word. He soaked up the information like a sponge. I was really impressed because most of the adults I have taught don’t grasp the information that quickly but an 8 year old picked it up in one visit. I was amazed and it was pretty funny because he reminded me of myself at that age as he couldn't sit still. But it's all good because he listened pretty well.
Easter day was awesome though; the Bishop called me up at random during Sacrament meeting and asked me to share my testimony. I was lead by the Spirit as I told every one of my love for them and my love for the gospel and Lord Jesus Christ. Later that day, we made little Easter egg treats for the members and we stopped by almost every members home and gave them an Easter egg. It was a good experience and now this upcoming week we are going to get down to work. It’s a whole different area and a whole different vibe but I know with the Lord’s help I will really make the best of my time here in Seaside.
Love you guys,
Nathan
Dear Family and Friends,
This place is the best!!!!!! It's like a vacation out here! Well it’s not exactly a vacation but it is way different from my last area. One of the members gave us a key to their house to go do Laundry and raid the fridge if we want. They are the best family ever. This place is like a 180 degree change from my last area. We live right by the ocean; you can go street contacting right next to the beach. We aren't allowed to go on the beach though, it’s off limits. The area is really nice though, it’s still pretty cold and rains a lot but things will get better. It is a tourist town and it gets really packed in the summers so we will be pretty busy. Things are amazing out here though, it’s a pretty small town so everyone pretty much knows everyone. Last week we received like 14 referrals from members and we are going to work. The Lord is blessing this area and I see some success coming in the future. Elder Allred and I are working hard and the members out here support the missionary work 100%.
I’m about to turn 20 May 1st but it doesn't really feel like it. I feel like the only thing that has really changed is that my beard is getting thicker and I might have to start shaving twice a day now. But there’s nothing I really need, just whatever you send will be fine. Being out here makes you realize that material things don't matter for these 2 years because all I can fit in my suit cases are my clothes and books. I left a ton of stuff back in my last area that Elder White inherited. I might just buy some sweats out here that say Seaside so I can always remember this area. A cool fact is that the movie the Goonies was filmed like 20 minutes north of us in Astoria. I’m going to have to go check out the Goonie house one day on a P-day!
My companions name is Cooper Allred and he is from Orem, Utah. He is a really nice guy and we get along pretty well. He has been out for about 14 months and has served in an English speaking area his entire mission. He doesn't know any Spanish so when I do language study he just does his own thing ha-ha. He has desires to work hard and this will be a good transfer. Of course we are very different and this is the 3rd companion I’ve had that is really quiet. I’m starting to think my Mission President is trying to teach me a lesson or something. Well, my last companion, Elder White was really quiet and by the end of our companionship he was able to talk and express himself pretty well so I have hopes that by the end of this transfer Elder Allred and I will be able to sit down and have a nice conversation without it getting weird. With time we will be great friends, but right now I’m just trying to get to know the area well so I can help out more.
I’ll let you know what’s been going on this week and some funny experiences. Well, I’ll start with what we did this week. We basically stopped by all the members’ homes so I could introduce myself and we asked them if there was anything we could do for them. By doing this we acquired a ton of referrals and will be pretty busy this week. Our Ward mission leader is on fire and is the man. It's totally different from where I came from but I’m so glad I started in Keizer and got that hard working background right off the bat.
Some of the members out here have been giving me a hard time because I’m the new guy but it’s all in good fun. We went to go eat with this family that owns a car dealership. His name is Bruce Smith so he named his car dealership BS Auto ha-ha. He is a really cool guy and used to be in a big rock band. He gave me a hard time probably because I asked him where he got the name for his car dealership ha-ha. I told you about the family that gave us the keys to their house so we could go do our laundry and eat their food, well they are the best. They’re the Symonds’s family and he is a really funny guy. On the night before Easter I got a call from a number but I didn’t get to the phone in time and the person left a message. The message said, " And Lo the Bunny Cometh to thy door, checketh thou for thine basket before thy becometh wet with rain. I then looked outside the door and there were two huge Easter egg baskets full of candy. I later found out that it was Brother Symonds that hooked us up. It was pretty funny because that was the last thing I was expecting to hear on my answering machine. I’m going to get a lot of my funny stories from this guy because he is the man!
We went to go teach this little guy named Lawrence that just turned 8. He is about to get baptized so we went to go teach him what the meaning of baptism is and why we get baptized. Well after about 15 minutes we taught him about everything he needed to know. We asked him what he learned and he told us exactly what we taught him, almost word for word. He soaked up the information like a sponge. I was really impressed because most of the adults I have taught don’t grasp the information that quickly but an 8 year old picked it up in one visit. I was amazed and it was pretty funny because he reminded me of myself at that age as he couldn't sit still. But it's all good because he listened pretty well.
Easter day was awesome though; the Bishop called me up at random during Sacrament meeting and asked me to share my testimony. I was lead by the Spirit as I told every one of my love for them and my love for the gospel and Lord Jesus Christ. Later that day, we made little Easter egg treats for the members and we stopped by almost every members home and gave them an Easter egg. It was a good experience and now this upcoming week we are going to get down to work. It’s a whole different area and a whole different vibe but I know with the Lord’s help I will really make the best of my time here in Seaside.
Love you guys,
Nathan
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
First Transfer to Seaside, Oregon
April 19, 2011
Dear Family,
Things are going super fast out here!! I love it and the spiritual experiences are never ending!! I have so much to tell you about what’s going on out here and how blessed I am to be in the service of the Lord. It's hard to believe that some people see serving a mission as a sacrifice when it is such a privilege!! I’ll take you through my last week and what has happened in the last few days.
Well I just got transferred to an English speaking assignment to a place called Seaside, Oregon. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Our apartment is right on the coast and it faces the Ocean. It's like I’m on a vacation in Vina del Mar, Chile. I was a little bummed to be going to serve in English but I feel pretty confident that I have mastered Spanish and will continue to work at it every day as I serve out here in English. Perhaps I will even be able to find some Spanish speaking investigators here as well. The area is amazing and my new companion, Elder Allred, is the man! We live with a part-member family and they have a really nice home. We live in an apartment that is on the top floor of their house. It is 100% different out here from where I just came from and I already love it and I’m so glad I got called to this area because every missionary told me it’s the best area to serve in the mission. I’ll most likely spend my required 6 months out here in teaching in English as well. It’s a tourist spot so in the summer it gets packed with people. We will probably be pretty busy with teaching and the members are amazing. It’s a small town but I have this like built up fire inside of me since this is the first time I’ve been transferred. I’m just ready to get out here and talk to everyone that lives in this town. I did exactly what you advised last night and I had a good talk with my companion Elder Allred. We sat down and talked about what our goals were and what we expect of ourselves and this transfer. He expressed to me that he is really willing to work hard and I know this transfer is going to be amazing. I’m glad we had the chance to talk and not beat around the bush and try to fix the problems later if they arise. We just talked about them up and front. We are in the Seaside Ward now and it will be interesting to see how things are different from a small Branch. Well that’s pretty much everything on the new area, I’ll try to send you some pictures later.
I have to tell you about last week in Keizer and how awesome it was!! We were able to take our investigator Pedro to go see the temple and brought Leslie Deloya and Lindsey along as they are his friends. As we showed Pedro around the temple, I decided to ask him how he felt. He thought for a while, and said, I feel like Superman!!! I was like Pedro, “That’s the spirit!" Overall it was an amazing experience and Pedro is doing well and progressing on his way to being baptized on the 14th of May. We also held a Fireside Friday night that was called the “Fire Within”. We called members to give talks and share spiritual experiences about missionary work and how it has impacted their lives. It was a really good experience and the members started getting fired up for missionary work as we had them participate in role plays afterwards.
I had a really amazing experience with an investigator named Irma. We got her from the English Elders and one day we decided to stop by her home. When we drove up to her house we saw a lady looking very panicked and sad. I went up to her and asked what’s wrong and it happened to be Irma. She told me that her daughter has been missing since Monday, for about 4 days. I asked her if we could see a picture of her daughter so if we saw her, we could notify someone. Well we saw the picture and took note of what she looked like. I felt the impression to give her a blessing and she accepted!! I told her that everything was going to be alright as long as she had faith. After the blessing we taught her the purpose of life and why things happen. We left her house feeling that she had trusted in our words. The next day I called her and asked her how everything was and she told me that the police found her daughter. She told me that a couple hours after we left they found her daughter! What a miracle? The Lord really is mindful of his children and cares about each and every one of them. I’m so glad to hold His priesthood and power. I had some other amazing experiences with the priesthood my last week in Keizer. It turns out that this guy we were teaching is being hidden by the government and that a gang is trying to find him and kill him. He has to go to court and testify against the gang as he was an eye witness to the crimes he saw them commit. We gave him a blessing of comfort and strength and he flew out like Sunday to go to California and testify against these criminals. He has a baptismal date and is reading in the book of Mormon every day. He used to smoke but one day when we stopped by he just randomly told me that he had stopped smoking. We hadn’t even taught him the Word of Wisdom but he told us he wanted to stop. He said that anytime he had a desire to smoke, he would just read from the Book of Mormon and the urge went away. How amazing is the word of God and the power it brings unto those that have true intent.
Well, things went great and my last Sunday in Keizer I made about 144 cookies and drove around to every members house and thanked them for their examples and the love they have shown me. It was a really amazing experience and I will forever loves those people. I will miss them but they said I have a place to stay when I come back! I got a couple pictures with the members so you will see who has been supporting me for the last 6 months! I love it out here on my mission and I wouldn't change it for anything!
Anything funny happen this week? I don’t have any here in Seaside yet but I bet there will be many to come. We were shopping earlier today and this man on a cart that is about 90 years old stops me and tells me that he wants to go to church. He told me that he just needed to get a hearing aid device from the church. I asked for his number and he gave me his card. He reached into his back pocket and handed me a Band-Aid with his name and number written on it. It was pretty interesting and I will definitely give him a call about going to church!
Love,
Elder Payne
Dear Family,
Things are going super fast out here!! I love it and the spiritual experiences are never ending!! I have so much to tell you about what’s going on out here and how blessed I am to be in the service of the Lord. It's hard to believe that some people see serving a mission as a sacrifice when it is such a privilege!! I’ll take you through my last week and what has happened in the last few days.
Well I just got transferred to an English speaking assignment to a place called Seaside, Oregon. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Our apartment is right on the coast and it faces the Ocean. It's like I’m on a vacation in Vina del Mar, Chile. I was a little bummed to be going to serve in English but I feel pretty confident that I have mastered Spanish and will continue to work at it every day as I serve out here in English. Perhaps I will even be able to find some Spanish speaking investigators here as well. The area is amazing and my new companion, Elder Allred, is the man! We live with a part-member family and they have a really nice home. We live in an apartment that is on the top floor of their house. It is 100% different out here from where I just came from and I already love it and I’m so glad I got called to this area because every missionary told me it’s the best area to serve in the mission. I’ll most likely spend my required 6 months out here in teaching in English as well. It’s a tourist spot so in the summer it gets packed with people. We will probably be pretty busy with teaching and the members are amazing. It’s a small town but I have this like built up fire inside of me since this is the first time I’ve been transferred. I’m just ready to get out here and talk to everyone that lives in this town. I did exactly what you advised last night and I had a good talk with my companion Elder Allred. We sat down and talked about what our goals were and what we expect of ourselves and this transfer. He expressed to me that he is really willing to work hard and I know this transfer is going to be amazing. I’m glad we had the chance to talk and not beat around the bush and try to fix the problems later if they arise. We just talked about them up and front. We are in the Seaside Ward now and it will be interesting to see how things are different from a small Branch. Well that’s pretty much everything on the new area, I’ll try to send you some pictures later.
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| This reminds me of La Portada in Antofagasta Chile my Mom's hometown! |
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| I have always loved the Chilean coastline since visiting when I was a boy and the Lord sent me to a beautiful place just like it in Seaside, Oregon. |
I have to tell you about last week in Keizer and how awesome it was!! We were able to take our investigator Pedro to go see the temple and brought Leslie Deloya and Lindsey along as they are his friends. As we showed Pedro around the temple, I decided to ask him how he felt. He thought for a while, and said, I feel like Superman!!! I was like Pedro, “That’s the spirit!" Overall it was an amazing experience and Pedro is doing well and progressing on his way to being baptized on the 14th of May. We also held a Fireside Friday night that was called the “Fire Within”. We called members to give talks and share spiritual experiences about missionary work and how it has impacted their lives. It was a really good experience and the members started getting fired up for missionary work as we had them participate in role plays afterwards.
I had a really amazing experience with an investigator named Irma. We got her from the English Elders and one day we decided to stop by her home. When we drove up to her house we saw a lady looking very panicked and sad. I went up to her and asked what’s wrong and it happened to be Irma. She told me that her daughter has been missing since Monday, for about 4 days. I asked her if we could see a picture of her daughter so if we saw her, we could notify someone. Well we saw the picture and took note of what she looked like. I felt the impression to give her a blessing and she accepted!! I told her that everything was going to be alright as long as she had faith. After the blessing we taught her the purpose of life and why things happen. We left her house feeling that she had trusted in our words. The next day I called her and asked her how everything was and she told me that the police found her daughter. She told me that a couple hours after we left they found her daughter! What a miracle? The Lord really is mindful of his children and cares about each and every one of them. I’m so glad to hold His priesthood and power. I had some other amazing experiences with the priesthood my last week in Keizer. It turns out that this guy we were teaching is being hidden by the government and that a gang is trying to find him and kill him. He has to go to court and testify against the gang as he was an eye witness to the crimes he saw them commit. We gave him a blessing of comfort and strength and he flew out like Sunday to go to California and testify against these criminals. He has a baptismal date and is reading in the book of Mormon every day. He used to smoke but one day when we stopped by he just randomly told me that he had stopped smoking. We hadn’t even taught him the Word of Wisdom but he told us he wanted to stop. He said that anytime he had a desire to smoke, he would just read from the Book of Mormon and the urge went away. How amazing is the word of God and the power it brings unto those that have true intent.
Well, things went great and my last Sunday in Keizer I made about 144 cookies and drove around to every members house and thanked them for their examples and the love they have shown me. It was a really amazing experience and I will forever loves those people. I will miss them but they said I have a place to stay when I come back! I got a couple pictures with the members so you will see who has been supporting me for the last 6 months! I love it out here on my mission and I wouldn't change it for anything!
Anything funny happen this week? I don’t have any here in Seaside yet but I bet there will be many to come. We were shopping earlier today and this man on a cart that is about 90 years old stops me and tells me that he wants to go to church. He told me that he just needed to get a hearing aid device from the church. I asked for his number and he gave me his card. He reached into his back pocket and handed me a Band-Aid with his name and number written on it. It was pretty interesting and I will definitely give him a call about going to church!
Love,
Elder Payne
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Pictures from Keizer, Oregon
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| District Meeting |
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| Elder White, Elder Payne, Maria and David |
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| Elder White and I at baptizm. |
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| Elder Rangel |
April 11, 2011
Dear Family,
Things are flying by out here and I want it to slow down. This is the last week of the transfer and I have learned so much. I feel like I am getting transferred out to another area because it’s my time. I am just now starting to understand what the Branch needs and what I need to do to further help out the missionary work out here. If I stay here it will be great because the work is really picking up and we have the support of the Branch Leadership and the members!! We will see though and I will fill you in next week! My prediction is that I'm going to the coast with Elder Davis in a place called Tillamook! We will see though because it is what the Lord wants!
I really liked in General Conference how Elder Uchtdorf told us when we pray we usually don't receive the whole answer right then. We usually get the answer line upon line, precept upon precept. This transfer has been a testimony of that and receiving revelation for this area little by little. At first we received the plan and implemented it and are starting to see the fruits of the plan. We have also started to have missionary firesides every two weeks where we call members to give talks and talk about missionary experiences they have had. They have gone really well and the spirit is always really strong at the firesides. We have also been able to receive a way to work with the members more efficiently and I know that all these results are due to depending on the Lord 100%. I will tell you in the letter to President Dyches about the changes that we are starting to see here in Keizer.
I've had some really good experiences this past week and been able to understand how to follow the spirit a little more. One day we met this girl named Angelita and were talking to her in the door way. As we were talking to her in the door, one of her friends came walking up behind us. I greeted him with a handshake and everything seemed normal but I just didn't feel right. Well we entered into her house with her friend and began to start the lesson but I still didn't feel right. I didn't understand what the feeling meant so I kept going and began to pray to start the lesson but even during the prayer I didn't feel very comfortable. Right after the pray her friend started to barrage us with questions and he truly wasn't interested in receiving an answer. Soon after his barrage I told him we weren't there to argue or waste his time, so I left with my testimony of our Savior of Jesus Christ. I didn't know what the feeling meant but now if I receive it again, I know what to do, just leave with your testimony. I was grateful for this experience because before I didn't receive a prompting to leave when someone wanted to just bash, but now through the spirit, I can tell further more if someone is interested or not!
We went to a concert this week with the Portland Mormon Choir and Orchestra. It was so awesome and it further unleashed my love for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Before I thought they sounded pretty boring but know I love them!! They had a guest soloist named Dallyn Vail Bayles. He sang really well and I got his autograph. You should check out some of his music because he is pretty good!
I have to tell you about another exciting experience. You know that Sister in my Branch, the one that I told you about. The one that didn't like me, she said that I was lame. Well, yesterday we went to go stop by to see her and talk about how the missionary work is going in the branch. We talked with her and her husband for about an hour and the spirit was there. She didn't straight up say it, but she likes me now. I could just tell by the way she addressed me. I'm glad that we could build that bridge of friendship and trust over what had happened in the past. Looking back this really helped me to grow, I could have said," Man this ladies mean, I didn't do anything to her!" and then avoided her and not said anything. Instead I just kept saying hi to her and being nice, and in the end, she doesn't think I’m too bad after all.
Hey Mom and Dad,
I read the letter back that I wrote you guys and I feel that I didn't really explain what was going on out here last week very well so here are some more things that happened to help you know what I’m going through.
Well things have definitely changed out here and by that I mean that I feel like I have been changing. Before I told you that I had a lot of pride and it was something I have been trying to overcome. Well the Lord is continuing to help me with this struggle I have been having as one of the Elders in my area feels like it is his personal duty to tell me what I need to do better ha-ha. I embrace what he says now other than before where I would have tried to take him down a peg. I enjoy his presence and I like to hear what he has to tell me. For example I combed my hair all the way back for church yesterday because I thought it was an ok way to style my hair. Well this Elder called me later that day and told me that in the OPM mission we have to have a part and a comb over. Thanks to this Elders suggestions and help I have been able to put away my pride and just put a part in my hair. Before I would have told him to stop worrying about my hair, but now I thank him for his concern ha-ha.
I have also learned and know that whenever I have a bad feeling of discouragement or anger or fear to drop down to my knees and pray. I usually never know why I am feeling the way I do or what causes the feelings I have to appear but I know that my Heavenly Father does and he can answer my prayers. Numerous times I have needed help or felt a feeling of discomfort but these feelings soon fade as I ask the Lord for his council and comfort. I had an experience with this the other day. I came back from church and it was a great meeting, but for some reason I felt like something was missing, that I could be doing more. I didn't know what it was that I needed to do or what I was missing, but I knew that God knew. So I got down and prayed and at the end of my prayer I received an answer. I searched for the answer I received in Preach my Gospel and understood what I needed to do. Only was this accomplished by putting my faith in the Lord.
I have noticed one thing that has really helped me grow. You know in the back of my journal I write about 4 things, Hard Things, Funny Things, Tender Mercies and Learning Experiences. At the beginning of my mission I would write in the, Hard Things, like every day because I felt as if I was facing things alone. Now I rarely write in the, Hard Things part in the back of my Journal I usually put them in the Tender Mercies part. I put it in the Tender Mercies because it seems to be that the hard things that happen out here are usually gone as I rely on the Lord more. I used to write in the hard things part of my journal, things are really tough; the members don't want to help. But now I write, the Lord answered my prayer and my fast and the members are supporting us more than ever. It has been an interesting journey so far to see the change that takes place as you forget about yourself and rely solely on the Lord. It’s like that talk you sent me about Faith last week.
As the Apostles watched Jesus calm the roiling waves of Galilee, raise Lazarus from the dead, walk on water, and cause the man blind from birth to see, they desired greater faith that would enable them to participate in similar miracles. Later, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, we see that their faith had actually risen to much higher levels. Thus they participated in experiences similar to those of the Savior, beginning with Peter and John’s healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple. In this and other miracles, they exercised great faith and used their priesthood, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (see Acts 3:4–8).
I have been able to participate in similar experiences on my mission. When I got here I was new and didn't really understand. I know that I’m not exactly where I need to be yet, but I know that I am on the right path. I just felt that telling you guys a little more about what’s actually going on would be better. I feel like most of these spiritual experiences I’m having out here are yours as well as you made it possible for me to be out here. Thanks to everyone who is supporting me financially and with your love and prayers that makes it possible for me to be serving my mission. I am so grateful and let me know if you would like to know anything more or want me to write about things specifically!
Love,
Elder Payne
Dear Family,
Things are flying by out here and I want it to slow down. This is the last week of the transfer and I have learned so much. I feel like I am getting transferred out to another area because it’s my time. I am just now starting to understand what the Branch needs and what I need to do to further help out the missionary work out here. If I stay here it will be great because the work is really picking up and we have the support of the Branch Leadership and the members!! We will see though and I will fill you in next week! My prediction is that I'm going to the coast with Elder Davis in a place called Tillamook! We will see though because it is what the Lord wants!
I really liked in General Conference how Elder Uchtdorf told us when we pray we usually don't receive the whole answer right then. We usually get the answer line upon line, precept upon precept. This transfer has been a testimony of that and receiving revelation for this area little by little. At first we received the plan and implemented it and are starting to see the fruits of the plan. We have also started to have missionary firesides every two weeks where we call members to give talks and talk about missionary experiences they have had. They have gone really well and the spirit is always really strong at the firesides. We have also been able to receive a way to work with the members more efficiently and I know that all these results are due to depending on the Lord 100%. I will tell you in the letter to President Dyches about the changes that we are starting to see here in Keizer.
I've had some really good experiences this past week and been able to understand how to follow the spirit a little more. One day we met this girl named Angelita and were talking to her in the door way. As we were talking to her in the door, one of her friends came walking up behind us. I greeted him with a handshake and everything seemed normal but I just didn't feel right. Well we entered into her house with her friend and began to start the lesson but I still didn't feel right. I didn't understand what the feeling meant so I kept going and began to pray to start the lesson but even during the prayer I didn't feel very comfortable. Right after the pray her friend started to barrage us with questions and he truly wasn't interested in receiving an answer. Soon after his barrage I told him we weren't there to argue or waste his time, so I left with my testimony of our Savior of Jesus Christ. I didn't know what the feeling meant but now if I receive it again, I know what to do, just leave with your testimony. I was grateful for this experience because before I didn't receive a prompting to leave when someone wanted to just bash, but now through the spirit, I can tell further more if someone is interested or not!
We went to a concert this week with the Portland Mormon Choir and Orchestra. It was so awesome and it further unleashed my love for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Before I thought they sounded pretty boring but know I love them!! They had a guest soloist named Dallyn Vail Bayles. He sang really well and I got his autograph. You should check out some of his music because he is pretty good!
I have to tell you about another exciting experience. You know that Sister in my Branch, the one that I told you about. The one that didn't like me, she said that I was lame. Well, yesterday we went to go stop by to see her and talk about how the missionary work is going in the branch. We talked with her and her husband for about an hour and the spirit was there. She didn't straight up say it, but she likes me now. I could just tell by the way she addressed me. I'm glad that we could build that bridge of friendship and trust over what had happened in the past. Looking back this really helped me to grow, I could have said," Man this ladies mean, I didn't do anything to her!" and then avoided her and not said anything. Instead I just kept saying hi to her and being nice, and in the end, she doesn't think I’m too bad after all.
Hey Mom and Dad,
I read the letter back that I wrote you guys and I feel that I didn't really explain what was going on out here last week very well so here are some more things that happened to help you know what I’m going through.
Well things have definitely changed out here and by that I mean that I feel like I have been changing. Before I told you that I had a lot of pride and it was something I have been trying to overcome. Well the Lord is continuing to help me with this struggle I have been having as one of the Elders in my area feels like it is his personal duty to tell me what I need to do better ha-ha. I embrace what he says now other than before where I would have tried to take him down a peg. I enjoy his presence and I like to hear what he has to tell me. For example I combed my hair all the way back for church yesterday because I thought it was an ok way to style my hair. Well this Elder called me later that day and told me that in the OPM mission we have to have a part and a comb over. Thanks to this Elders suggestions and help I have been able to put away my pride and just put a part in my hair. Before I would have told him to stop worrying about my hair, but now I thank him for his concern ha-ha.
I have also learned and know that whenever I have a bad feeling of discouragement or anger or fear to drop down to my knees and pray. I usually never know why I am feeling the way I do or what causes the feelings I have to appear but I know that my Heavenly Father does and he can answer my prayers. Numerous times I have needed help or felt a feeling of discomfort but these feelings soon fade as I ask the Lord for his council and comfort. I had an experience with this the other day. I came back from church and it was a great meeting, but for some reason I felt like something was missing, that I could be doing more. I didn't know what it was that I needed to do or what I was missing, but I knew that God knew. So I got down and prayed and at the end of my prayer I received an answer. I searched for the answer I received in Preach my Gospel and understood what I needed to do. Only was this accomplished by putting my faith in the Lord.
I have noticed one thing that has really helped me grow. You know in the back of my journal I write about 4 things, Hard Things, Funny Things, Tender Mercies and Learning Experiences. At the beginning of my mission I would write in the, Hard Things, like every day because I felt as if I was facing things alone. Now I rarely write in the, Hard Things part in the back of my Journal I usually put them in the Tender Mercies part. I put it in the Tender Mercies because it seems to be that the hard things that happen out here are usually gone as I rely on the Lord more. I used to write in the hard things part of my journal, things are really tough; the members don't want to help. But now I write, the Lord answered my prayer and my fast and the members are supporting us more than ever. It has been an interesting journey so far to see the change that takes place as you forget about yourself and rely solely on the Lord. It’s like that talk you sent me about Faith last week.
As the Apostles watched Jesus calm the roiling waves of Galilee, raise Lazarus from the dead, walk on water, and cause the man blind from birth to see, they desired greater faith that would enable them to participate in similar miracles. Later, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, we see that their faith had actually risen to much higher levels. Thus they participated in experiences similar to those of the Savior, beginning with Peter and John’s healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple. In this and other miracles, they exercised great faith and used their priesthood, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (see Acts 3:4–8).
I have been able to participate in similar experiences on my mission. When I got here I was new and didn't really understand. I know that I’m not exactly where I need to be yet, but I know that I am on the right path. I just felt that telling you guys a little more about what’s actually going on would be better. I feel like most of these spiritual experiences I’m having out here are yours as well as you made it possible for me to be out here. Thanks to everyone who is supporting me financially and with your love and prayers that makes it possible for me to be serving my mission. I am so grateful and let me know if you would like to know anything more or want me to write about things specifically!
Love,
Elder Payne
April 4, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
How is everything going? Thank you so much for the letter you sent me, it really filled me in on what’s going on at home. It sounds like things are going well and all of you are keeping strong. Thanks for the food again, the Lord really watches out for you when you need his help. Right after I got that box from you guys, a couple days later one of the members randomly bought me and my companion 3 boxes of cereal!! That pretty much sealed the deal for the rest of the week and I made it thanks to the Lord. We eat dinner about every night and the members here are the best. Thanks for your support!!
This week was awesome and of course the climax was General Conference. I feel bad for all the times I was a little kid and I slept through it, but I guess I just didn't understand the significance of what General Conference is. But now I know and am fully appreciative of the 2 days of a spiritual feast we get to partake of. Really it truly is a blessing to hear from a modern living prophet and know what our Savior wants us to do. I'm sorry for all the times I slept in General Conference when I was a kid, but I realized something, you can't really understand something until you are ready. It's like trying to teach an 8 year old that's about to be baptized the significance of the atonement. But it was great and I learned a lot of things from all the great talks. We went and watched General Conference at the Goesch's home. The Goesch's are the family of my friend Alan that I met at BYU and they are the best. David was also able to accompany us to watch General Conference for the first time and he said he loved it; he is preparing to serve his mission!!
I called Elder Rangel last night and had a pretty good conversation with him. He is about to go home in 2 weeks and it is finally hitting him that his mission will be over by the end of this transfer. I was like," Elder Rangel, how do you feel that you have only 2 weeks left in the Field?" and he responded," Well I know what I have got to do when I get back, I have to get married!!!" ha-ha it was pretty funny cause they talked about that a lot during General Conference. I also told him I didn't want to use slang anymore (and I haven’t been) but I wanted to talk more like the Apostles. Now that's the cool way to pattern your speech, like Thomas S. Monson when he said," In the Cause of the Master!" Now that's what I have got to strive to be like, speak like a G.A now and not just a G. ha-ha but it will take time, right now I’m just trying to master Spanish!! What was your favorite talk? I loved the talk by Jeffrey R. Holland, he brings the spirit so strong and he is so powerful!!!!
I just got back from the Zone activity and it was sweet. We played soccer on the field with about 40 missionaries; I think it was all the Spanish missionaries in the mission. Everyone was showing up with their different soccer Jerseys from different countries because there are a couple Hispanics serving here from other countries like Peru, Mexico etc. I need you to send me my soccer jersey from Chile so I can represent the Chilean pride! It was a pretty good time but we played in the rain so we all go soaked and people were falling all over the place. It rains a lot here in Oregon!
Well this week has been good as every week out here in the mission field is but let me fill you in on some experiences I have been having so you can understand what I'm going through!!! Last Tuesday I had an exchange with Elder Nickels our district leader and he is a wrestler too! He is from Arizona and he won state twice and 8th in nationals. He is the man and he is a really hard worker. Well anyway while Elder Nichols was in my area we went to go see my girl Maria Ceja. You know how Maria Ceja had a baptismal date but she never got baptized, well she’s got a doubt that we are trying to find and I think we found it while I was on the exchange with Elder Nichols. So we went to go see her and I didn't tell Elder Nichols much about her before the appointment, just that she was really nice and pretty old. Anyway, during the lesson, Maria interrupted our teaching to sing for us. Of course this was a new experience for Elder Nichols and he didn't know what to do, but I joined in with Maria and sang along. Instead of trying to redirect her attention back to the lesson, I asked her to sing another song!! She sang on and on about topics in everyday life, it was a pretty good experience. I asked her how she got so good at singing and she told us when she was young she used to write songs for churches!!!!!!!! There it was, we found out what has been holding her back. She knows that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ; she just has an emotional attachment to these other churches she has written songs for. I feel that this was the doubt we had been looking for. Well I was glad that we were able to find the doubt of my girl Maria Ceja as well as hear her beautiful voice. Since I noticed that she liked singing so much and writing songs, I gave her the pamphlet of the restoration and asked her to write a song about the Prophet Joseph Smith and the first vision. I hope this will help her further understand and help her take the steps necessary to coming closer to her Savior.
I went on this Blitz with this Elder named Elder Summers serving in English. We went knocking and the way he talked to people was awesome!! They would open the door and he would stare them straight in the eyes, and wouldn't even blink!! He would never look away and keep them captivated in his eyes. When I go contacting or knocking, I look people in the eyes, but not like I’m trying to read their thoughts or look into their souls. I have got to take a page out of this Elders book and stare people down, even if they feel uncomfortable ha-ha!!! By the way I’m growing my hair out again and going for the slick back, its time show people that not only am I serious about the work out here, but so is my hair!!
I realized a valuable lesson this week out here. I have been keeping the rules out here 100% I mean even the rules that don't make that much sense like having to let an Elder Back your car up when you’re at Albertsons on a P-day and in the middle of an empty parking lot. But I have been doing it because it's not hard and it must be done. Anyway, one day this week I was talking to Elder White, just thinking out loud and I said," Elder White I thought since I had been keeping every single rule in the white handbook, even the little ones, I would see a difference. I thought I would get a blessing or we would get more investigators because we are bringing 10 percent obedient!" But as I said those words I realized something, I don’t keep the rules out here because I expect something in return or a blessing from the Lord, I keep the rules because that's what Heavenly Father wants me to do. I keep the rules because in the end they are not hard to keep and it is how we show our willingness to submit our will to the lord. I don’t keep the word of wisdom just because I know I will be healthier or happier, I keep it because it's what the Lord commanded, and then we can receive a blessing if it is the Lords will. So basically what I have realized out here is, I can never go to the Lord and complain and say," I’ve' been working really hard, where is a blessing or someone I can lead to baptism!" I've learned that it’s not what you can get, but it's what you can give! That's something I’ve been trying to work out, stop asking about me or what I need, but asking what I can do. It's a good lesson to learn yet it will take some time to get this way of thinking out of my head and start thinking about others. The crazy thing about my experience out here on my mission is daily I am reminded or find things I need to do better. I want to do all of them, yet it is very hard to focus on all the things I need to improve on, as there are so many, but I can tell you one thing , I already know I’m not coming back home to play Starcraft or waste my time on stuff like that ha-ha!
Well something funny happened last district meeting. We were all about to go eat out after but I didn't have any money and neither did the Elders from Salem. So I said, hey Elders I have got some Ramen noodles in my apartment, would you like some?" Of course they accepted and we started to make the Ramen when we got back to the apartment. The Elders from Salem just didn't want to eat any plan old noodles so we decided to spice it up. I didn't know that you could spice Ramen up, but it's possible. They looked around the kitchen and found any spice or sauce that I had and that I didn't even now I had and put it in the Ramen. We put sauce from all around the world in there, Chinese sweet and sour, Hot sauce, Lemon sauce, ketchup, not to mention we tossed two eggs in there with some elegant spices and herbs we found hidden for probably about a year or two. I was skeptical, but I was hungry, so I ate the Ramen and it was Deelicious. What I learned from that experience, you can't go wrong with Ramen noodles, because you can't ruin them, they’re just too good. I used to look down at Ramen, but now I realize that it can be made into a Gourmet soup with the right imagination and outlook!
Give my love to everyone,
Elder Payne
Dear Family and Friends,
How is everything going? Thank you so much for the letter you sent me, it really filled me in on what’s going on at home. It sounds like things are going well and all of you are keeping strong. Thanks for the food again, the Lord really watches out for you when you need his help. Right after I got that box from you guys, a couple days later one of the members randomly bought me and my companion 3 boxes of cereal!! That pretty much sealed the deal for the rest of the week and I made it thanks to the Lord. We eat dinner about every night and the members here are the best. Thanks for your support!!
This week was awesome and of course the climax was General Conference. I feel bad for all the times I was a little kid and I slept through it, but I guess I just didn't understand the significance of what General Conference is. But now I know and am fully appreciative of the 2 days of a spiritual feast we get to partake of. Really it truly is a blessing to hear from a modern living prophet and know what our Savior wants us to do. I'm sorry for all the times I slept in General Conference when I was a kid, but I realized something, you can't really understand something until you are ready. It's like trying to teach an 8 year old that's about to be baptized the significance of the atonement. But it was great and I learned a lot of things from all the great talks. We went and watched General Conference at the Goesch's home. The Goesch's are the family of my friend Alan that I met at BYU and they are the best. David was also able to accompany us to watch General Conference for the first time and he said he loved it; he is preparing to serve his mission!!
I called Elder Rangel last night and had a pretty good conversation with him. He is about to go home in 2 weeks and it is finally hitting him that his mission will be over by the end of this transfer. I was like," Elder Rangel, how do you feel that you have only 2 weeks left in the Field?" and he responded," Well I know what I have got to do when I get back, I have to get married!!!" ha-ha it was pretty funny cause they talked about that a lot during General Conference. I also told him I didn't want to use slang anymore (and I haven’t been) but I wanted to talk more like the Apostles. Now that's the cool way to pattern your speech, like Thomas S. Monson when he said," In the Cause of the Master!" Now that's what I have got to strive to be like, speak like a G.A now and not just a G. ha-ha but it will take time, right now I’m just trying to master Spanish!! What was your favorite talk? I loved the talk by Jeffrey R. Holland, he brings the spirit so strong and he is so powerful!!!!
I just got back from the Zone activity and it was sweet. We played soccer on the field with about 40 missionaries; I think it was all the Spanish missionaries in the mission. Everyone was showing up with their different soccer Jerseys from different countries because there are a couple Hispanics serving here from other countries like Peru, Mexico etc. I need you to send me my soccer jersey from Chile so I can represent the Chilean pride! It was a pretty good time but we played in the rain so we all go soaked and people were falling all over the place. It rains a lot here in Oregon!
Well this week has been good as every week out here in the mission field is but let me fill you in on some experiences I have been having so you can understand what I'm going through!!! Last Tuesday I had an exchange with Elder Nickels our district leader and he is a wrestler too! He is from Arizona and he won state twice and 8th in nationals. He is the man and he is a really hard worker. Well anyway while Elder Nichols was in my area we went to go see my girl Maria Ceja. You know how Maria Ceja had a baptismal date but she never got baptized, well she’s got a doubt that we are trying to find and I think we found it while I was on the exchange with Elder Nichols. So we went to go see her and I didn't tell Elder Nichols much about her before the appointment, just that she was really nice and pretty old. Anyway, during the lesson, Maria interrupted our teaching to sing for us. Of course this was a new experience for Elder Nichols and he didn't know what to do, but I joined in with Maria and sang along. Instead of trying to redirect her attention back to the lesson, I asked her to sing another song!! She sang on and on about topics in everyday life, it was a pretty good experience. I asked her how she got so good at singing and she told us when she was young she used to write songs for churches!!!!!!!! There it was, we found out what has been holding her back. She knows that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ; she just has an emotional attachment to these other churches she has written songs for. I feel that this was the doubt we had been looking for. Well I was glad that we were able to find the doubt of my girl Maria Ceja as well as hear her beautiful voice. Since I noticed that she liked singing so much and writing songs, I gave her the pamphlet of the restoration and asked her to write a song about the Prophet Joseph Smith and the first vision. I hope this will help her further understand and help her take the steps necessary to coming closer to her Savior.
I went on this Blitz with this Elder named Elder Summers serving in English. We went knocking and the way he talked to people was awesome!! They would open the door and he would stare them straight in the eyes, and wouldn't even blink!! He would never look away and keep them captivated in his eyes. When I go contacting or knocking, I look people in the eyes, but not like I’m trying to read their thoughts or look into their souls. I have got to take a page out of this Elders book and stare people down, even if they feel uncomfortable ha-ha!!! By the way I’m growing my hair out again and going for the slick back, its time show people that not only am I serious about the work out here, but so is my hair!!
I realized a valuable lesson this week out here. I have been keeping the rules out here 100% I mean even the rules that don't make that much sense like having to let an Elder Back your car up when you’re at Albertsons on a P-day and in the middle of an empty parking lot. But I have been doing it because it's not hard and it must be done. Anyway, one day this week I was talking to Elder White, just thinking out loud and I said," Elder White I thought since I had been keeping every single rule in the white handbook, even the little ones, I would see a difference. I thought I would get a blessing or we would get more investigators because we are bringing 10 percent obedient!" But as I said those words I realized something, I don’t keep the rules out here because I expect something in return or a blessing from the Lord, I keep the rules because that's what Heavenly Father wants me to do. I keep the rules because in the end they are not hard to keep and it is how we show our willingness to submit our will to the lord. I don’t keep the word of wisdom just because I know I will be healthier or happier, I keep it because it's what the Lord commanded, and then we can receive a blessing if it is the Lords will. So basically what I have realized out here is, I can never go to the Lord and complain and say," I’ve' been working really hard, where is a blessing or someone I can lead to baptism!" I've learned that it’s not what you can get, but it's what you can give! That's something I’ve been trying to work out, stop asking about me or what I need, but asking what I can do. It's a good lesson to learn yet it will take some time to get this way of thinking out of my head and start thinking about others. The crazy thing about my experience out here on my mission is daily I am reminded or find things I need to do better. I want to do all of them, yet it is very hard to focus on all the things I need to improve on, as there are so many, but I can tell you one thing , I already know I’m not coming back home to play Starcraft or waste my time on stuff like that ha-ha!
Well something funny happened last district meeting. We were all about to go eat out after but I didn't have any money and neither did the Elders from Salem. So I said, hey Elders I have got some Ramen noodles in my apartment, would you like some?" Of course they accepted and we started to make the Ramen when we got back to the apartment. The Elders from Salem just didn't want to eat any plan old noodles so we decided to spice it up. I didn't know that you could spice Ramen up, but it's possible. They looked around the kitchen and found any spice or sauce that I had and that I didn't even now I had and put it in the Ramen. We put sauce from all around the world in there, Chinese sweet and sour, Hot sauce, Lemon sauce, ketchup, not to mention we tossed two eggs in there with some elegant spices and herbs we found hidden for probably about a year or two. I was skeptical, but I was hungry, so I ate the Ramen and it was Deelicious. What I learned from that experience, you can't go wrong with Ramen noodles, because you can't ruin them, they’re just too good. I used to look down at Ramen, but now I realize that it can be made into a Gourmet soup with the right imagination and outlook!
Give my love to everyone,
Elder Payne
Monday, March 28, 2011
March 28, 2011
Dear family and friends,
I have to tell you about a miracle and answer to my prayers. So the box of goodies that you sent me was a box of miracles. Let me explain, we get money at the beginning of every month to buy our groceries and the stuff we need. I told you how we found a wonderful less active sister by the name of Tabitha and helped her with some service. Well the service was to clean out her garage that was full of like 2 years of garbage because as a single Mom with three little boys she couldn't afford pay for the garbage man so it was like piled up everywhere. We loaded up a truck and took it all to the dump. When I asked Tabitha if she had some money to pay for the dump she told me she didn't have any money left. I felt like I needed to help her because I know the Lord put her in our path for a reason, so I paid for it with my grocery money. So I ran out of grocery money like 2 weeks ago and I was like completely out of food. But I read a scripture about missionaries and how the Lord will provide for his servants. So I was thinking to myself, I think the Lord will take care of me since I didn't spend that money on myself. Well the day I thought that, I got your package, and I got enough food to last me until next month!! Chyeah! So it truly was a box of miracles!!! Thank you for the goodies and thanks to the Lord for hearing my prayers.
Dang, things are happening out here so fast and my mind is exploding with knowledge and things I need to work on. Looking back on when I first came out on my mission I feel kind of bad because I had no idea what I was doing back then ha-ha. Now I feel pretty good because I see how much more improvement there is to go. I told you last letter that I met with the Leadership and apologized for not understanding how things really needed to function. Well since then, a wave of information and knowledge has hit me and I do believe it is all inspiration from the Lord. It’s pretty awesome how if you’re not content with just going with the flow, you can call on the powers of heaven to help you fix or improve things. Things are going awesome and let me explain what’s been going on here this past week.
One thing that I have realized that I hadn't really thought of before is the fact that there are like 4 companionship's of English missionaries in our area. I hadn't thought about it before but it recently came to my mind that why don't we just work together. If we have pretty much the same area, why don't we help each other tract it out so we can find more people. So we have been going on a lot of blitzes with the English speaking Elders here and working hard. We even printed out a paper with Spanish phrases and gave it to them that says, “How to contact someone in Spanish." So from now on, when the English missionaries meet an Hispanic family knocking, they can contact them and give us the reference to go back. It’s been going pretty great and we have received a lot of references from the English missionaries in our area now.
I have learned that you have to follow up! That's one thing that is probably the most important thing in missionary work, you have got to follow up. If you don't follow up with a plan or a goal, people will forget. So I have been trying to get really good at follow up on plans, and remind people of things that they said, to help them out! President Andrade has a saying," No hay seguimiento, cuando no hay un plan!" Which basically means, there is no following up, where there is no plan! Like you always said Dad, if you fail to plan, plan to fail! If you don't plan, you’re done for. I have been becoming a planning machine!!!! It's a different lifestyle entirely from what I used to rock, because my motto before was," Just go with the flow!" But out here, you have got to plan like there's no tomorrow and the Lord will guide you and let you know what changes needed to be made as you follow the spirit! It's crazy that it took me this long to figure it out, but missionary work is a lot more work that I thought, you have got to be on top of things.
Something funny that happened is that when we met with Presidente Andrade, he told us that we needed to dream about baptisms. Well I pondered on that and that following night I had a dream that I got in a fist fight with Jon Claude Van Dan and Dolph Lundgrin( Russian from Rocky) at a Nuclear Power Plant. I tried, but I’m not dreaming about baptisms yet ha-ha, but it will come with time I guess.
I told you that the mission plan is to work with the families in this branch, strengthen their testimonies and help them share the gospel. Well that is going great and we are teaching 9 families and each one is the best. I love talking with them and sharing the gospel with them. Really, the most effective way to do missionary work is working with the members. I honestly don't want to leave because we have finally been able to find exactly what the Branch expects of us and we are doing it. It felt different at Church yesterday, like more love. I felt the spirit stronger in church and things are changing here and I think it is because we as missionaries are doing everything we can to gain the confidence of the members and working hard.
Some miracles have happened this week and I’ll tell you all about it. Tabitha and her little family are doing great and she has been to church every Sunday since we met her. She even asked us to give her 2 year old a blessing because he has problem breathing, afterward when we came back he was feeling a lot better! Not only that, but Tabitha has been sharing the gospel with all her friends. We have been teaching her friend Mariel and she has a baptismal date set for the 16th of April! We are teaching Mariel's sister too and she came to church yesterday! The Lord truly put Tabitha in our path so we could help her come back to church and then teach her friends! I am so glad that we were able to meet Tabitha because even if her friends are not baptized, we got her 3 little boys growing up in the gospel and 3 future missionaries. Maria Ceja is doing awesome and she came to church yesterday as well. She believes that this is the true church, but she has a doubt that is keeping her from being baptized and we must find out what it is. I have decided to pray for Maria Ceja every time I am able to pray because I know that the Lord wants her to be baptized. David Cervantes, the recent convert of a month, has been going out teaching with us about everyday and is progressing really well. His testimony is so strong and he is preparing to serve a mission himself! Yesterday was testimony meeting and Tiffani shared her testimony and it was so powerful. We have been focusing on the members and teaching them every week as that is what Presidente Andrade wants us to do. We have had some pretty amazing spiritual experiences as we ask the families to share personal experiences and testimonies of the gospel. I have been able to experience some amazing things out here and miracles are truly happening. If I stayed here for the rest of my mission, I would be fine with that ha-ha.
My companionship is going awesome. Elder White is the man and he is truly helping me to grow. His desire to improve only fuels my desire to make changes and find new ways to work harder. It is truly a blessing that the Lord put me with Elder White and he constantly helps me to make the proper changes I need to make to be a better missionary.
Funny experiences, well I think this was pretty funny. I was on a blitz with the English Elders from Salem and I was with Elder Taylor. We were knocking in an apartment complex at mid-day. As we were walking around we saw a group of kids playing in the middle of the complex. As we continued to contact, the kids ran over to us and asked," Are you guys secret Agents?" We laughed a little bit and said," We are agents of the Lord Jesus Christ." They were like WOW, who’s that? We talked to them for a little while and even taught them how to pray. Well, after a while of talking to these little kids and challenging them to pray we left. Two days later we came back to the complex for a return appointment and we saw one of the kids we taught to pray running up to us. He told us he prayed and he really liked it. I asked him what he prayed for and he said 5 bucks! He then said he got 5 bucks later that day. I thought it was pretty funny because he prayed, maybe not for the right reason, but at least he prayed!!
Love,
Elder Payne
Dear family and friends,
I have to tell you about a miracle and answer to my prayers. So the box of goodies that you sent me was a box of miracles. Let me explain, we get money at the beginning of every month to buy our groceries and the stuff we need. I told you how we found a wonderful less active sister by the name of Tabitha and helped her with some service. Well the service was to clean out her garage that was full of like 2 years of garbage because as a single Mom with three little boys she couldn't afford pay for the garbage man so it was like piled up everywhere. We loaded up a truck and took it all to the dump. When I asked Tabitha if she had some money to pay for the dump she told me she didn't have any money left. I felt like I needed to help her because I know the Lord put her in our path for a reason, so I paid for it with my grocery money. So I ran out of grocery money like 2 weeks ago and I was like completely out of food. But I read a scripture about missionaries and how the Lord will provide for his servants. So I was thinking to myself, I think the Lord will take care of me since I didn't spend that money on myself. Well the day I thought that, I got your package, and I got enough food to last me until next month!! Chyeah! So it truly was a box of miracles!!! Thank you for the goodies and thanks to the Lord for hearing my prayers.
Dang, things are happening out here so fast and my mind is exploding with knowledge and things I need to work on. Looking back on when I first came out on my mission I feel kind of bad because I had no idea what I was doing back then ha-ha. Now I feel pretty good because I see how much more improvement there is to go. I told you last letter that I met with the Leadership and apologized for not understanding how things really needed to function. Well since then, a wave of information and knowledge has hit me and I do believe it is all inspiration from the Lord. It’s pretty awesome how if you’re not content with just going with the flow, you can call on the powers of heaven to help you fix or improve things. Things are going awesome and let me explain what’s been going on here this past week.
One thing that I have realized that I hadn't really thought of before is the fact that there are like 4 companionship's of English missionaries in our area. I hadn't thought about it before but it recently came to my mind that why don't we just work together. If we have pretty much the same area, why don't we help each other tract it out so we can find more people. So we have been going on a lot of blitzes with the English speaking Elders here and working hard. We even printed out a paper with Spanish phrases and gave it to them that says, “How to contact someone in Spanish." So from now on, when the English missionaries meet an Hispanic family knocking, they can contact them and give us the reference to go back. It’s been going pretty great and we have received a lot of references from the English missionaries in our area now.
I have learned that you have to follow up! That's one thing that is probably the most important thing in missionary work, you have got to follow up. If you don't follow up with a plan or a goal, people will forget. So I have been trying to get really good at follow up on plans, and remind people of things that they said, to help them out! President Andrade has a saying," No hay seguimiento, cuando no hay un plan!" Which basically means, there is no following up, where there is no plan! Like you always said Dad, if you fail to plan, plan to fail! If you don't plan, you’re done for. I have been becoming a planning machine!!!! It's a different lifestyle entirely from what I used to rock, because my motto before was," Just go with the flow!" But out here, you have got to plan like there's no tomorrow and the Lord will guide you and let you know what changes needed to be made as you follow the spirit! It's crazy that it took me this long to figure it out, but missionary work is a lot more work that I thought, you have got to be on top of things.
Something funny that happened is that when we met with Presidente Andrade, he told us that we needed to dream about baptisms. Well I pondered on that and that following night I had a dream that I got in a fist fight with Jon Claude Van Dan and Dolph Lundgrin( Russian from Rocky) at a Nuclear Power Plant. I tried, but I’m not dreaming about baptisms yet ha-ha, but it will come with time I guess.
I told you that the mission plan is to work with the families in this branch, strengthen their testimonies and help them share the gospel. Well that is going great and we are teaching 9 families and each one is the best. I love talking with them and sharing the gospel with them. Really, the most effective way to do missionary work is working with the members. I honestly don't want to leave because we have finally been able to find exactly what the Branch expects of us and we are doing it. It felt different at Church yesterday, like more love. I felt the spirit stronger in church and things are changing here and I think it is because we as missionaries are doing everything we can to gain the confidence of the members and working hard.
Some miracles have happened this week and I’ll tell you all about it. Tabitha and her little family are doing great and she has been to church every Sunday since we met her. She even asked us to give her 2 year old a blessing because he has problem breathing, afterward when we came back he was feeling a lot better! Not only that, but Tabitha has been sharing the gospel with all her friends. We have been teaching her friend Mariel and she has a baptismal date set for the 16th of April! We are teaching Mariel's sister too and she came to church yesterday! The Lord truly put Tabitha in our path so we could help her come back to church and then teach her friends! I am so glad that we were able to meet Tabitha because even if her friends are not baptized, we got her 3 little boys growing up in the gospel and 3 future missionaries. Maria Ceja is doing awesome and she came to church yesterday as well. She believes that this is the true church, but she has a doubt that is keeping her from being baptized and we must find out what it is. I have decided to pray for Maria Ceja every time I am able to pray because I know that the Lord wants her to be baptized. David Cervantes, the recent convert of a month, has been going out teaching with us about everyday and is progressing really well. His testimony is so strong and he is preparing to serve a mission himself! Yesterday was testimony meeting and Tiffani shared her testimony and it was so powerful. We have been focusing on the members and teaching them every week as that is what Presidente Andrade wants us to do. We have had some pretty amazing spiritual experiences as we ask the families to share personal experiences and testimonies of the gospel. I have been able to experience some amazing things out here and miracles are truly happening. If I stayed here for the rest of my mission, I would be fine with that ha-ha.
My companionship is going awesome. Elder White is the man and he is truly helping me to grow. His desire to improve only fuels my desire to make changes and find new ways to work harder. It is truly a blessing that the Lord put me with Elder White and he constantly helps me to make the proper changes I need to make to be a better missionary.
Funny experiences, well I think this was pretty funny. I was on a blitz with the English Elders from Salem and I was with Elder Taylor. We were knocking in an apartment complex at mid-day. As we were walking around we saw a group of kids playing in the middle of the complex. As we continued to contact, the kids ran over to us and asked," Are you guys secret Agents?" We laughed a little bit and said," We are agents of the Lord Jesus Christ." They were like WOW, who’s that? We talked to them for a little while and even taught them how to pray. Well, after a while of talking to these little kids and challenging them to pray we left. Two days later we came back to the complex for a return appointment and we saw one of the kids we taught to pray running up to us. He told us he prayed and he really liked it. I asked him what he prayed for and he said 5 bucks! He then said he got 5 bucks later that day. I thought it was pretty funny because he prayed, maybe not for the right reason, but at least he prayed!!
Love,
Elder Payne
Monday, March 21, 2011
March 21, 2011
Dear Family,
Thanks for the scripture D&C65 that you sent me; it really helped me to put things into a different perspective. To be honest things have been changing a lot out here and its awesome. To realize that we are preparing the way for the Lord’s return is an awesome thought.
I just wanted to let you know that Maria Ceja didn't get baptized yesterday, but don't be discouraged guys, in time, she will be ready! I have got good news for you, Aunt Janice wrote me and it was a really awesome letter. It helped me to keep my head up and I could feel the love she has for the Lord in the words she wrote.
Something cool that I have realized is that you have got to use everyone’s talents, whatever they are. I'll give you an example of what I’m talking about. Last P-day all the missionaries got together from around the areas and played basketball. Well my trainer Elder Hansen came with his new companion but Elder Hansen doesn't like to play basketball, he would rather play the piano instead ha-ha. I respect that so when we all started to play inside the church, Elder Hansen left to go play piano in another room by himself. I was like naw; we need him in here with us! So I told Elder Hansen to just play piano while we played basketball. We then brought the piano into the basketball court and had my boy Elder Hansen play piano as we played basketball! I'm not going to lie, it was probably the most soothing games of basketball I have ever played, no one got mad or to rowdy as in the background, my trainer Elder Hansen was playing church hymns ha-ha. I’m glad that we could have my last companion Elder Hansen help out the mood in the gym, and show us his talents too!
The plan that I sent you is working great as it has been meant for this area. We were able to go out with a lot of members this week and teach our investigators. The spirit was really there as we brought the members with us and had them share their testimonies.
Something cool that happened which is just a little side note is that we found a new place to eat after district meeting. It is like something we always do after district meeting out here on Tuesdays, we go out to eat somewhere. The regular place was Machita's Teriyaki and we used to eat there after every district meeting. We have all be getting really tired of it when one of the Elders last week stepped up and said," I can't take Machitas Teriyaki anymore, but there is a new place that just opened up called Chu's Eatery!" We were all pretty skeptical of Chu's eatery but we decided to check it out. We sent two Elders to go in and investigate the prices, because we didn't want to have 10 missionaries walk in and then walk out if the prices were too high. As we waited outside of Chu's, we finally got the ok to come in from the Elders that went inside to investigate! When we went in, we were all amazed by the beautiful elegance of Chu's Eatery. It totally put our old restaurant to shame and we all knew this was our new home. As we looked around, one of the people that worked there introduced us to the Chu's Eatery conference room. He opened two doors and before our eyes we saw a conference table just waiting for us with 10 of the most comfortable chairs you have ever seen in a Chinese restaurant. It was a pretty good experience and not only was the experience great; the food was less expensive than Machitas. It was pretty good to get everyone united around the conference table at Chu's on a Tuesday afternoon, Chyeah!
I'm glad you liked the pictures! Amancio is the man isn't he! You meet some of the best people on your mission. I will never forget him and some of the experiences I’ve had with him like watching him chew gum when he doesn't have any teeth to chew it with ha-ha! But I’m being for real, things are going great out here and the Lord is really blessing me as I strive to be the best I can be. I told you how I felt that I needed to stop using slang words such as man, bro, g, dude, and broseph. Well as I have expressed my desire to the Lord to change to be a better representative of him, I have been able to stop using those words. Now I’m not going to say I have stop completely, but I am changing little by little. I thought it would change my personality to be honest, like the way I talked, but it hasn't at all, I’m still rockin out! But what I have learned from this week and something that will help me for the rest of my life is that, admitting your faults can be fun! Like saying that you were wrong is a good feeling, well not all the time, but in this case it was and I will explain what happened. This isn't to boast or brag, this is just to show you what’s going on out here and the experiences I have been having!
Well here it goes, I learned a great lesson yesterday and I hope you can understand what I’m trying to express. Well you know that every Sunday you meet with the Bishop or Branch President in a meeting we call P.E.C. Well basically every meeting we inform them about our investigators and tell them how they are progressing. Well something that I have been doing since I arrived here on my mission is trying to get rides for our investigators. Most of the Hispanics out here don’t have licenses so I always try to get them rides to church. It’s something that I have been trying to do every week since I have been out here. Well we talked about people that needed rides to church again yesterday and in the meeting the Presidency told me that these people needed to make an effort in getting to church themselves, as it is an act of faith. Before, I used to think, what are they talking about, we need to get as many people to church as possible. But after being out here for 6 months, it finally clicked! If our investigators aren't willing to make the effort for themselves first, they probably aren't going to progress. Sure I can knock on their door and be there with a ride and tell them to hurry up and come to church. But in the end the decision is always theirs. I have been getting stressed and occupied with getting our investigators rides when sometimes they don't even ask a friend for a ride nor do their part to come to church. It finally clicked to me as I realized that God doesn't make me wake up at 6:00am every morning. God doesn't make me keep any of the mission rules. It is the exact same with my investigators. They must have desires to change and do this for themselves as they will have to make the change. They must do their part and after all they can do, I must help. After realizing what I have been doing this whole time since I have been out here, I felt really bad. Every week that I have been here, I have been asking the Presidency for rides for investigators that weren't doing their part. I felt bad that I had caused this burden on the Presidency and I knew that I needed to apologize. That night I visited the Presidency of the Rama and asked for their forgiveness as they probably experience this problem with every new set of Elders that come into the Branch. As I apologized, I felt great. They accepted my apology and not only that, told me words of wisdom that I will forever remember. As I talked to each member of the Presidency one on one, I felt the Love they had for me and the missionary work that is taking place here. I was able to realize how big this work is and felt the Love of the Savior. This experience that I had later lead to another amazing experience that I will share with you when I get back home, as words in person can only explain what happened last night, and the power of the love of the Savior that we can feel as we humble ourselves to being his servants. Things are really going great out here and I have got a lot more to tell you when I get back as writing it out won’t suffice.
Love,
Elder Nathan Payne
Dear Family,
Thanks for the scripture D&C65 that you sent me; it really helped me to put things into a different perspective. To be honest things have been changing a lot out here and its awesome. To realize that we are preparing the way for the Lord’s return is an awesome thought.
I just wanted to let you know that Maria Ceja didn't get baptized yesterday, but don't be discouraged guys, in time, she will be ready! I have got good news for you, Aunt Janice wrote me and it was a really awesome letter. It helped me to keep my head up and I could feel the love she has for the Lord in the words she wrote.
Something cool that I have realized is that you have got to use everyone’s talents, whatever they are. I'll give you an example of what I’m talking about. Last P-day all the missionaries got together from around the areas and played basketball. Well my trainer Elder Hansen came with his new companion but Elder Hansen doesn't like to play basketball, he would rather play the piano instead ha-ha. I respect that so when we all started to play inside the church, Elder Hansen left to go play piano in another room by himself. I was like naw; we need him in here with us! So I told Elder Hansen to just play piano while we played basketball. We then brought the piano into the basketball court and had my boy Elder Hansen play piano as we played basketball! I'm not going to lie, it was probably the most soothing games of basketball I have ever played, no one got mad or to rowdy as in the background, my trainer Elder Hansen was playing church hymns ha-ha. I’m glad that we could have my last companion Elder Hansen help out the mood in the gym, and show us his talents too!
The plan that I sent you is working great as it has been meant for this area. We were able to go out with a lot of members this week and teach our investigators. The spirit was really there as we brought the members with us and had them share their testimonies.
Something cool that happened which is just a little side note is that we found a new place to eat after district meeting. It is like something we always do after district meeting out here on Tuesdays, we go out to eat somewhere. The regular place was Machita's Teriyaki and we used to eat there after every district meeting. We have all be getting really tired of it when one of the Elders last week stepped up and said," I can't take Machitas Teriyaki anymore, but there is a new place that just opened up called Chu's Eatery!" We were all pretty skeptical of Chu's eatery but we decided to check it out. We sent two Elders to go in and investigate the prices, because we didn't want to have 10 missionaries walk in and then walk out if the prices were too high. As we waited outside of Chu's, we finally got the ok to come in from the Elders that went inside to investigate! When we went in, we were all amazed by the beautiful elegance of Chu's Eatery. It totally put our old restaurant to shame and we all knew this was our new home. As we looked around, one of the people that worked there introduced us to the Chu's Eatery conference room. He opened two doors and before our eyes we saw a conference table just waiting for us with 10 of the most comfortable chairs you have ever seen in a Chinese restaurant. It was a pretty good experience and not only was the experience great; the food was less expensive than Machitas. It was pretty good to get everyone united around the conference table at Chu's on a Tuesday afternoon, Chyeah!
I'm glad you liked the pictures! Amancio is the man isn't he! You meet some of the best people on your mission. I will never forget him and some of the experiences I’ve had with him like watching him chew gum when he doesn't have any teeth to chew it with ha-ha! But I’m being for real, things are going great out here and the Lord is really blessing me as I strive to be the best I can be. I told you how I felt that I needed to stop using slang words such as man, bro, g, dude, and broseph. Well as I have expressed my desire to the Lord to change to be a better representative of him, I have been able to stop using those words. Now I’m not going to say I have stop completely, but I am changing little by little. I thought it would change my personality to be honest, like the way I talked, but it hasn't at all, I’m still rockin out! But what I have learned from this week and something that will help me for the rest of my life is that, admitting your faults can be fun! Like saying that you were wrong is a good feeling, well not all the time, but in this case it was and I will explain what happened. This isn't to boast or brag, this is just to show you what’s going on out here and the experiences I have been having!
Well here it goes, I learned a great lesson yesterday and I hope you can understand what I’m trying to express. Well you know that every Sunday you meet with the Bishop or Branch President in a meeting we call P.E.C. Well basically every meeting we inform them about our investigators and tell them how they are progressing. Well something that I have been doing since I arrived here on my mission is trying to get rides for our investigators. Most of the Hispanics out here don’t have licenses so I always try to get them rides to church. It’s something that I have been trying to do every week since I have been out here. Well we talked about people that needed rides to church again yesterday and in the meeting the Presidency told me that these people needed to make an effort in getting to church themselves, as it is an act of faith. Before, I used to think, what are they talking about, we need to get as many people to church as possible. But after being out here for 6 months, it finally clicked! If our investigators aren't willing to make the effort for themselves first, they probably aren't going to progress. Sure I can knock on their door and be there with a ride and tell them to hurry up and come to church. But in the end the decision is always theirs. I have been getting stressed and occupied with getting our investigators rides when sometimes they don't even ask a friend for a ride nor do their part to come to church. It finally clicked to me as I realized that God doesn't make me wake up at 6:00am every morning. God doesn't make me keep any of the mission rules. It is the exact same with my investigators. They must have desires to change and do this for themselves as they will have to make the change. They must do their part and after all they can do, I must help. After realizing what I have been doing this whole time since I have been out here, I felt really bad. Every week that I have been here, I have been asking the Presidency for rides for investigators that weren't doing their part. I felt bad that I had caused this burden on the Presidency and I knew that I needed to apologize. That night I visited the Presidency of the Rama and asked for their forgiveness as they probably experience this problem with every new set of Elders that come into the Branch. As I apologized, I felt great. They accepted my apology and not only that, told me words of wisdom that I will forever remember. As I talked to each member of the Presidency one on one, I felt the Love they had for me and the missionary work that is taking place here. I was able to realize how big this work is and felt the Love of the Savior. This experience that I had later lead to another amazing experience that I will share with you when I get back home, as words in person can only explain what happened last night, and the power of the love of the Savior that we can feel as we humble ourselves to being his servants. Things are really going great out here and I have got a lot more to tell you when I get back as writing it out won’t suffice.
Love,
Elder Nathan Payne
Monday, March 14, 2011
March 14, 2011
Dear family and friends,
Hey, how are things going!? Things have been good this week and I’m so grateful for the experiences that I have been having out here in Keizer Oregon. It’s crazy to think but I was sent here for a reason, to this exact Spanish Branch in Keizer Oregon at this time. It’s pretty legit to think that the Lord works with us like that and we don't understand until much later. I'll explain to you what I mean and how the Lord can bless you with revelation if what you are asking for is His will.
Well last letter I told you that Elder White and I sat down one night and wrote out a mission plan for the Keizer area. I know that this plan was direct revelation for this area as I know I couldn't think of it by myself. Elder White, the new missionaries that just got white washed into this area (Elder Avery, and Elder Garballos), and I sat down and figured out how to present it to the leadership in the Branch. We prayed about it and typed it out. The plan came out just as we thought it would and we showed it to our mission leader Mario Hijo. We set goals and figured out how we would present it to the Branch Presidency. Well we figured it all out and yesterday we presented the plan to Presidente Andrade and his counselors. The presentation went well and everyone was fired up about the plan because it really gives us a direction where to go and how to use our time wisely. The plan is pretty much just breaking down how much time a missionary has in his day to proselyte, and figuring out what he will do with that time by answering the questions, what, why and how. Everyone is excited to see the results of this plan in the next two months and see how the work picks up in this area. I now have a testimony and know why I have been sent here to this area at this time, as the Lord has given me a way to serve the people in this area more effectively, through revelation.
Maria Ceja is the best and this is a funny experience that happened with her the other day. We decided to go stop by and see how she was doing. We went to go knock on her trailer but no one answered. So as we were about to walk away, I saw here knocking on the window inside her truck. She opened her truck door and came out to greet us. I asked her what she was doing sitting in her truck. She told me she got locked out of her house and was cold so she had been sitting in her truck waiting for her husband to get back. She told us she had been sitting there for like 3 hours and I felt so bad. She told us that she also had a huge headache but didn’t have any water to take the Tylenol. I remembered that we had an unopened water bottle in the car so we gave it to her so she could take the Tylenol. As soon as we gave her the bottle, she raised it to the air, and thanked the Lord for sending her the missionaries with the Agua de Vida (the water of Life) ha-ha. She is so awesome and her faith in Jesus Christ is really strong. She has a baptismal date of this next Sunday.
My companionship is going really well. Elder White and I continue to grow in our Spanish as we work together. We only listen to Spanish music or the scriptures in Spanish as we are trying to be immersed in the language as much as we can. We are like brothers now and we are pretty close. Elder White is growing so much every day as he never used to talk during dinner with members but now he talks almost as much as I do. I know that I was put with Elder White to help him grow socially and he has been here to help me grow as well.
President Dyches always asks us to tell him if we had any funny things happen during the week in our letter to him probably to help us see that things are not all so serious and the Lord has a sense of humor too. Well one night we went to go visit Rosa at her house. Here kids were screaming and yelling, and going nuts. We somehow got them to calm down and started to teach her. While we were teaching I smelled something kind of funny. As I tried to figure out what the smell was, thinking that it was me, she told me that it was her 4 year olds feet. She told him to go wash his feet but he said no!! The old guy that lives with them named Miguel told him again to wash his feet! The kid refused a second time and them Miguel took matters into his own hands. He grasped the little boy and took him to the bathroom to wash his feet. The little boy started screaming like someone was trying to kill him. Within seconds, the little boy was naked and Miguel put him in the shower. We saw this all happen because their apartment is pretty small. Anyway the boy was yelling FRIO, FRIO, because the water was cold and he didn't want to wash his feet. Somehow things settled down again and we continued teaching the plan of salvation. While teaching, the little boy managed to get out of the bathroom and started running around the small apartment stark naked. They rapped him up in a towel and we kept on going. It was a pretty crazy experience, but it was pretty funny as this all happened because a little boy refused to wash his stinky feet! Sometimes it gets crazy out here, but the work is fun and the gospel is true!
Love,
Elder Payne
Dear family and friends,
Hey, how are things going!? Things have been good this week and I’m so grateful for the experiences that I have been having out here in Keizer Oregon. It’s crazy to think but I was sent here for a reason, to this exact Spanish Branch in Keizer Oregon at this time. It’s pretty legit to think that the Lord works with us like that and we don't understand until much later. I'll explain to you what I mean and how the Lord can bless you with revelation if what you are asking for is His will.
Well last letter I told you that Elder White and I sat down one night and wrote out a mission plan for the Keizer area. I know that this plan was direct revelation for this area as I know I couldn't think of it by myself. Elder White, the new missionaries that just got white washed into this area (Elder Avery, and Elder Garballos), and I sat down and figured out how to present it to the leadership in the Branch. We prayed about it and typed it out. The plan came out just as we thought it would and we showed it to our mission leader Mario Hijo. We set goals and figured out how we would present it to the Branch Presidency. Well we figured it all out and yesterday we presented the plan to Presidente Andrade and his counselors. The presentation went well and everyone was fired up about the plan because it really gives us a direction where to go and how to use our time wisely. The plan is pretty much just breaking down how much time a missionary has in his day to proselyte, and figuring out what he will do with that time by answering the questions, what, why and how. Everyone is excited to see the results of this plan in the next two months and see how the work picks up in this area. I now have a testimony and know why I have been sent here to this area at this time, as the Lord has given me a way to serve the people in this area more effectively, through revelation.
Maria Ceja is the best and this is a funny experience that happened with her the other day. We decided to go stop by and see how she was doing. We went to go knock on her trailer but no one answered. So as we were about to walk away, I saw here knocking on the window inside her truck. She opened her truck door and came out to greet us. I asked her what she was doing sitting in her truck. She told me she got locked out of her house and was cold so she had been sitting in her truck waiting for her husband to get back. She told us she had been sitting there for like 3 hours and I felt so bad. She told us that she also had a huge headache but didn’t have any water to take the Tylenol. I remembered that we had an unopened water bottle in the car so we gave it to her so she could take the Tylenol. As soon as we gave her the bottle, she raised it to the air, and thanked the Lord for sending her the missionaries with the Agua de Vida (the water of Life) ha-ha. She is so awesome and her faith in Jesus Christ is really strong. She has a baptismal date of this next Sunday.
My companionship is going really well. Elder White and I continue to grow in our Spanish as we work together. We only listen to Spanish music or the scriptures in Spanish as we are trying to be immersed in the language as much as we can. We are like brothers now and we are pretty close. Elder White is growing so much every day as he never used to talk during dinner with members but now he talks almost as much as I do. I know that I was put with Elder White to help him grow socially and he has been here to help me grow as well.
President Dyches always asks us to tell him if we had any funny things happen during the week in our letter to him probably to help us see that things are not all so serious and the Lord has a sense of humor too. Well one night we went to go visit Rosa at her house. Here kids were screaming and yelling, and going nuts. We somehow got them to calm down and started to teach her. While we were teaching I smelled something kind of funny. As I tried to figure out what the smell was, thinking that it was me, she told me that it was her 4 year olds feet. She told him to go wash his feet but he said no!! The old guy that lives with them named Miguel told him again to wash his feet! The kid refused a second time and them Miguel took matters into his own hands. He grasped the little boy and took him to the bathroom to wash his feet. The little boy started screaming like someone was trying to kill him. Within seconds, the little boy was naked and Miguel put him in the shower. We saw this all happen because their apartment is pretty small. Anyway the boy was yelling FRIO, FRIO, because the water was cold and he didn't want to wash his feet. Somehow things settled down again and we continued teaching the plan of salvation. While teaching, the little boy managed to get out of the bathroom and started running around the small apartment stark naked. They rapped him up in a towel and we kept on going. It was a pretty crazy experience, but it was pretty funny as this all happened because a little boy refused to wash his stinky feet! Sometimes it gets crazy out here, but the work is fun and the gospel is true!
Love,
Elder Payne
Monday, March 7, 2011
March 7, 2011
Dear family and friends,
Hey what’s going down family, times flying over here in Oregon!! I know I tell you this every week but I’ve been learning a ton about myself and the Lord! I’ll fill you in on what’s happening out here and hopefully it won't be something you have heard me say already, Chyeah!!
First of all, thanks a lot for the article about being bold and not overbearing. The key is the Spirit and it is my quest and my goal to have the spirit with me constantly. I've been changing a lot out here bra. My ability to work with others and love has grown. My language or the way I talked hasn't changed to much yet but the way I roll has. I put away the Elder Payne-Dolor name tag because that ain't me. That was cool for like a week but then I realized that's not how I should roll. I put it away but at least I can keep it for a souvenir. I’m rockin the Elder Payne name tag as that’s like an honor seeing as my Pops rocked the same exact nametag back in the day. I have got to carry the last name Payne with respect. The way I think about people and how I treat them has changed a ton as well. Alright, I’ll hit you up with what has happened this week and it has been a pretty good one!
I DIDN'T GET TRANSFERRED SO IM STAYING IN KEIZER FOR ANOTHER TRANSFER!
So I have to tell you a pretty awesome spiritual experience that happened out here and how it has changed my life. So we were all waiting for transfer calls and thinking we were all going to get transferred to other areas. I honestly thought that I was going to leave but we got the call saying that Elder White and I were staying and Elder Rangel and Weneirt are both leaving. I felt a little bummed out, I’m not going to lie. I realize, looking back that I was just thinking about myself but as I put my faith in the Lord, he blessed me with knowledge and strength. I’m going to be straight up with you and not beat around the bush and tell you why I was bummed and don’t judge me, this is just how I was feeling. I wanted to be transferred because I felt that I needed another companion that could further train me to be better. It’s not that Elder White and I aren't awesome buddies, I just felt that way because we are basically still on the same level and what they call "Greenies". I have been feeling like this recently, "how am I going to progress if I only had my trainer for a transfer and my second companion was Elder White, an Elder that just got out of an English speaking area and didn’t know that much Spanish." I know this sounds whinny but let me explain. I was just thinking to myself, I wanted a new companion, one that was experienced and could show me the ropes and what I need to do out here. I talked to Elder White about how I felt and told him I don’t feel like I have been properly trained. After a really good talk, he expressed to me that he felt the same as well. As we were talking, I was thinking, how are we going to do better in this area if we both haven’t really been trained or really know what we are doing. But at that moment I knew that the Lord wouldn't put two missionaries or "Greenies" together if he didn't have a purpose. We knew that God does everything for a reason and for that we knew we had to turn to him for help. We asked him in prayer just how two new missionaries like us could really go to work and really succeed in this area. We received an answer and revelation as Elder White and I sat down for the rest of the night and devised a mission plan. I feel like that plan that we devised was revelation from the Lord, for us, to help us in the area that we are in. I know this as the Lord put into our minds the things that we hadn't thought of doing. This experience will change me and my mission for the rest of the time I have out here. I know that the Lord will help us when we ask, and our weaknesses will be made strengths as we come unto Him for help. This has truly helped me to gain a stronger testimony and know that Elder White and I need to be together for at least another transfer, and it’s time to Rock out G!!!
We were knocking the other day and ran into a lady and in the end she told us she wasn't interested but somehow convinced my companion and I to take a stray cat that was lost. I don't know how she did it but somehow we ended up leaving her house with a cat in a box. Elder White and I knew we couldn't keep it as I don't even really like cats and we can't take care of it. We tried to pass by the local members and give them the cat, as it was a pretty good looking cat, but most of them just told us to kill it. Well, after searching for a home for this cat, we couldn't find any takers. We ended up at the apartment with the cat and the box and I said to Elder White," I don’t want this cat man." He was Like," Me either..." So what we decided to do is give the cat its agency, its freedom to choose. We were going to put the box outside and we said, if he stays in the box, we will keep him for a night, but if he runs away, he made his decision. So we took the box outside to see what the cat would do. As soon as we opened the box, the cat flew out with a jumping leap and ran off into the rainy night, we never saw Little G again (that’s what we named him). I felt bad for a little bit but we did what we could, Chyeah!
A pretty awesome tender mercy experience happened to me and Elder White. From this experience I learned that when you are given an opportunity to help someone out, you should do it. Let me explain to you why it’s a good idea to serve and help others. One day Elder White and I were outside contacting people when we got a call from one of our investigators saying that there was an emergency and her kid needed a ride to the hospital. She didn't have a car and she thought that we could help. We started to call members immediately as we thought someone was dying. We ended up getting one of the members to stop by her house with us and we went to go see what the problem was. When we went inside the house, she showed us to her son that was sitting on the couch playing his gameboy and had his ankle rapped. I asked him what was the problem and he told us that he just sprained his ankle running in gym at school. We were relieved to know that it wasn't that serious but also felt like we could have used our time better than to rush over there with a member. Well anyway, they took her kid to the hospital to get his ankle checked on and we started walking back to our car kind of disappointed. As we were walking back to our car, two little kids about 4 and 6 ran up to us and started talking to us. I was like, where did these kids come from. After a while, we saw their mom come up to us and we started talking to her. After a couple minutes talking to her, she told us that she was Mormon. We never saw her before but she told us it was because she got divorced and moved here like 6 months ago and just never was able to go to church because she didn't know where it was and didn’t have a ride. After talking to her for a while, she explained that she wanted to go back to church and bring her kids up in the church. We set up a ride, did some service for her on Saturday cleaning out here garage, she went to church, and tonight we are having a family home evening! Now tell me that everything doesn't happen for a reason. She needed help at this time and the Lord sent us to her as we did everything we could to be obedient and do His will. God lives and is aware of his children. Did we know that we would find her, no, but we were lead to her after doing what was right! Now from this experience, her 3 little boys have the possibility to grow up in the church and be 3 full time missionaries in the future, Chyeah!
Dang G, my boy Elder Rangel has one transfer left on his mission and is being transferred to another area. We made breakfast at a members house this morning as a going away present for Elder Rangel and Elder Weinert. It’s sad to see him go but I’ve learned so much from that Elder. He has helped me to man up more and understand missionary work. Last night we went over to his place and I inherited all the things he didn't want to bring with him. I inherited a 3 peace suit that fits pretty well, some new clothes, a Kitten Calendar, some Air Jordan sandals, and some hot sauce!! I’m telling you, it’s sad when one of your boys has got to leave, but it’s also bitter sweet, cause you get to have all the stuff they leave behind. I will always remember my boy Elder Rangel from the memories we have had and not only that, but I will remember him also as I sport his apparel (wear his clothes)! Chyeah!
Alright Family, works going good out here and this truly is the Church of Jesus Christ. Never have I been happier in my life, than in the service of my Lord and Savior!!!!
Keep it real,
Elder Payne
Dear family and friends,
Hey what’s going down family, times flying over here in Oregon!! I know I tell you this every week but I’ve been learning a ton about myself and the Lord! I’ll fill you in on what’s happening out here and hopefully it won't be something you have heard me say already, Chyeah!!
First of all, thanks a lot for the article about being bold and not overbearing. The key is the Spirit and it is my quest and my goal to have the spirit with me constantly. I've been changing a lot out here bra. My ability to work with others and love has grown. My language or the way I talked hasn't changed to much yet but the way I roll has. I put away the Elder Payne-Dolor name tag because that ain't me. That was cool for like a week but then I realized that's not how I should roll. I put it away but at least I can keep it for a souvenir. I’m rockin the Elder Payne name tag as that’s like an honor seeing as my Pops rocked the same exact nametag back in the day. I have got to carry the last name Payne with respect. The way I think about people and how I treat them has changed a ton as well. Alright, I’ll hit you up with what has happened this week and it has been a pretty good one!
I DIDN'T GET TRANSFERRED SO IM STAYING IN KEIZER FOR ANOTHER TRANSFER!
So I have to tell you a pretty awesome spiritual experience that happened out here and how it has changed my life. So we were all waiting for transfer calls and thinking we were all going to get transferred to other areas. I honestly thought that I was going to leave but we got the call saying that Elder White and I were staying and Elder Rangel and Weneirt are both leaving. I felt a little bummed out, I’m not going to lie. I realize, looking back that I was just thinking about myself but as I put my faith in the Lord, he blessed me with knowledge and strength. I’m going to be straight up with you and not beat around the bush and tell you why I was bummed and don’t judge me, this is just how I was feeling. I wanted to be transferred because I felt that I needed another companion that could further train me to be better. It’s not that Elder White and I aren't awesome buddies, I just felt that way because we are basically still on the same level and what they call "Greenies". I have been feeling like this recently, "how am I going to progress if I only had my trainer for a transfer and my second companion was Elder White, an Elder that just got out of an English speaking area and didn’t know that much Spanish." I know this sounds whinny but let me explain. I was just thinking to myself, I wanted a new companion, one that was experienced and could show me the ropes and what I need to do out here. I talked to Elder White about how I felt and told him I don’t feel like I have been properly trained. After a really good talk, he expressed to me that he felt the same as well. As we were talking, I was thinking, how are we going to do better in this area if we both haven’t really been trained or really know what we are doing. But at that moment I knew that the Lord wouldn't put two missionaries or "Greenies" together if he didn't have a purpose. We knew that God does everything for a reason and for that we knew we had to turn to him for help. We asked him in prayer just how two new missionaries like us could really go to work and really succeed in this area. We received an answer and revelation as Elder White and I sat down for the rest of the night and devised a mission plan. I feel like that plan that we devised was revelation from the Lord, for us, to help us in the area that we are in. I know this as the Lord put into our minds the things that we hadn't thought of doing. This experience will change me and my mission for the rest of the time I have out here. I know that the Lord will help us when we ask, and our weaknesses will be made strengths as we come unto Him for help. This has truly helped me to gain a stronger testimony and know that Elder White and I need to be together for at least another transfer, and it’s time to Rock out G!!!
We were knocking the other day and ran into a lady and in the end she told us she wasn't interested but somehow convinced my companion and I to take a stray cat that was lost. I don't know how she did it but somehow we ended up leaving her house with a cat in a box. Elder White and I knew we couldn't keep it as I don't even really like cats and we can't take care of it. We tried to pass by the local members and give them the cat, as it was a pretty good looking cat, but most of them just told us to kill it. Well, after searching for a home for this cat, we couldn't find any takers. We ended up at the apartment with the cat and the box and I said to Elder White," I don’t want this cat man." He was Like," Me either..." So what we decided to do is give the cat its agency, its freedom to choose. We were going to put the box outside and we said, if he stays in the box, we will keep him for a night, but if he runs away, he made his decision. So we took the box outside to see what the cat would do. As soon as we opened the box, the cat flew out with a jumping leap and ran off into the rainy night, we never saw Little G again (that’s what we named him). I felt bad for a little bit but we did what we could, Chyeah!
A pretty awesome tender mercy experience happened to me and Elder White. From this experience I learned that when you are given an opportunity to help someone out, you should do it. Let me explain to you why it’s a good idea to serve and help others. One day Elder White and I were outside contacting people when we got a call from one of our investigators saying that there was an emergency and her kid needed a ride to the hospital. She didn't have a car and she thought that we could help. We started to call members immediately as we thought someone was dying. We ended up getting one of the members to stop by her house with us and we went to go see what the problem was. When we went inside the house, she showed us to her son that was sitting on the couch playing his gameboy and had his ankle rapped. I asked him what was the problem and he told us that he just sprained his ankle running in gym at school. We were relieved to know that it wasn't that serious but also felt like we could have used our time better than to rush over there with a member. Well anyway, they took her kid to the hospital to get his ankle checked on and we started walking back to our car kind of disappointed. As we were walking back to our car, two little kids about 4 and 6 ran up to us and started talking to us. I was like, where did these kids come from. After a while, we saw their mom come up to us and we started talking to her. After a couple minutes talking to her, she told us that she was Mormon. We never saw her before but she told us it was because she got divorced and moved here like 6 months ago and just never was able to go to church because she didn't know where it was and didn’t have a ride. After talking to her for a while, she explained that she wanted to go back to church and bring her kids up in the church. We set up a ride, did some service for her on Saturday cleaning out here garage, she went to church, and tonight we are having a family home evening! Now tell me that everything doesn't happen for a reason. She needed help at this time and the Lord sent us to her as we did everything we could to be obedient and do His will. God lives and is aware of his children. Did we know that we would find her, no, but we were lead to her after doing what was right! Now from this experience, her 3 little boys have the possibility to grow up in the church and be 3 full time missionaries in the future, Chyeah!
Dang G, my boy Elder Rangel has one transfer left on his mission and is being transferred to another area. We made breakfast at a members house this morning as a going away present for Elder Rangel and Elder Weinert. It’s sad to see him go but I’ve learned so much from that Elder. He has helped me to man up more and understand missionary work. Last night we went over to his place and I inherited all the things he didn't want to bring with him. I inherited a 3 peace suit that fits pretty well, some new clothes, a Kitten Calendar, some Air Jordan sandals, and some hot sauce!! I’m telling you, it’s sad when one of your boys has got to leave, but it’s also bitter sweet, cause you get to have all the stuff they leave behind. I will always remember my boy Elder Rangel from the memories we have had and not only that, but I will remember him also as I sport his apparel (wear his clothes)! Chyeah!
Alright Family, works going good out here and this truly is the Church of Jesus Christ. Never have I been happier in my life, than in the service of my Lord and Savior!!!!
Keep it real,
Elder Payne
Monday, February 28, 2011
Atlanta Temple Open House!
Hi Everyone, I am so excited that the Atlanta Temple is about to re-open after being closed for remodeling for the past year and a half. I wish I could be there to personally go to the open house with all of you, but I am pretty tied up in Oregon for another 18 months. If you have ever wondered what the inside of an LDS temple looks like, now is your chance as the temple will only be open to the public for a few weeks before it will dedicated again to the Lord. The temple is the House of the Lord and I hope you take this opportunity to visit.
Miss you all!
Elder Payne
February 28, 2011
Dear family and friends,
Que Paso? Dang, this week has flown by with my boy Elder White. It is so crazy that this transfer is almost over. Next Monday is transfers and I don’t know if I’m heading out or staying here. I've heard talk that I might be going English speaking because every Spanish Elder has to serve at least 6 months in English so we will see what happens. To be honest, whatever happens or wherever I’m sent I’m cool with because I’m ready to work wherever the Lord wants me to be. I’ll let you know what happened this week and what I’ve learned.
We have our Zone activity happening today and that will be pretty sweet. It is really cool out here because all the missionaries are like family, its sick. I’ll get a call at night after getting back home from my boys in other areas just calling to see what’s up and see how the works going. We really have each other’s backs out here and its pretty legit.
I got to give a spiritual thought at District meeting last Tuesday and that went pretty well. It was about how you can have joy on your mission. The spirit was there as I shared with all the missionaries, it’s not how many baptisms you get or lessons you teach, but how boldly you are willing to share the gospel. Many missionaries only look for the visual fruits of their labors and don't notice all the things that happen that they can't see. It was pretty sweet and I think I helped some missionaries in our district realize that it's not all about what you can see from hard work, but that the fact you’re giving it your all and truly converted! I can truly say as I have taken this perspective on my mission I have been so happy, as every day I talk to anyone I see and share my testimony when I feel prompted. Chyeah!
Elder White and I rearranged the apartment and it’s looking pretty legit. Ill finish this up later, I have got to go to the zone activity now!
We just got back from the Zone activity and it was sick! We went to this place in Tigard where it’s just a huge warehouse with trampolines everywhere! Everyone was going crazy doing gainers and back flips everywhere. There was a sweet foam pit that people were just diving into ha-ha. We then got a huge game of dodge ball going and it was crazy. I got rocked in the face but the balls weren't that hard so it was all good! It was pretty good to get the whole Spanish Zone out and the English Zone out as well.
Well, I’ve told you a lot about Antonio and how he's the man. Well, one day last week we decided to stop by and see how he was doing. When we stopped by he told us that he wants to be baptized, but he’s still not sure if the church is true. We set a baptismal date for him that he can work towards and it’s the 26th of March. He accepted and it was pretty sweet. Well we stopped by last night and talked to him and found out a doubt that he has. His doubt is that we claim that we are the only ones with the authority of God to baptize and confirm the gift of the Holy Ghost. He thinks that other churches have authority and if you live your life just keeping the commandments it doesn't matter. He has this doubt because many of his family are members of so many different faiths and he doesn't want to believe that they don't have the authority in these other churches too. But we talked to him and explained the great apostasy really well. He still couldn’t understand or maybe didn't want to understand. Well we told him that we would bring him to Mario Papa's house this Tuesday and explain it to him really well. So I hope that the spirit can touch his heart tomorrow as we try to share the most important message that we can with him. Rosa, a lady that just moved here from West Salem, is really awesome. I feel really sad because she is living in a really hard situation. She is a single mother with 5 children living in a tiny little apartment. So we have been trying to help her strengthen her relationship with God and haven't really talked too much about baptism as she really needs help. We talked to the President of the Branch and we are going to go over there soon and give them some help. She is really awesome and she wants to follow the Savior, she just is going through some really hard times. Maria Ceja is holding up really well, we taught her about authority and Joseph Smith and she accepted the message of the restoration! She still has a baptismal date on the 12th and we will talk to her more this week about it. We have been teaching this family and I think that the son is the most interested, his name is Juan. We met them knocking and he is pretty sweet. We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and what we need to do to return to Heavenly Father after this life. We have a ton of investigators to be honest, we just need to cut down and find out who is really willing to keep their commitments. We have also been focusing on having more member present lessons to create a relationship between the investigators and the members. The members are behind us and it’s pretty sweet. The Lord has been blessing us with people to teach, we just need to find a way that we can get them to come to church.
My companionship is going really good. Elder White has grown like 100% from the first time I met him. He isn't as shy and now he is willing to talk to anyone. I guess it’s true if you care about someone, then they will trust you and then your friendship or relationship will grow. It’s been a really good learning experience and Elder White has truly helped me to grow!
Let me think if anything funny happened this week! We went to go teach Antonio and he lives with two roommates named Jose and Matt. Matt is like a huge 6'3 Mexican guy with a mustache and Jose is a little guy who usually likes to argue. So while we were teaching Antonio, Matt comes up and is like, “I don’t believe in your Book of Mormon." He basically just told us things that he heard from his Catholic Priest but after I shared my testimony about how I knew it was true the room got kind of quiet. He was like, are you going to cry? And I was like," Naw man, I haven’t cried since like 3rd grade." And then he said to me," It’s alright to cry man, I cry sometimes!" It got quiet again and I asked," Really?" He then told me," I don’t cry because I’m a girl, but sometimes you got to cry!" After talking for a little bit more I got up and gave everyone in the room a hug. I knew that even though Matt and Jose didn't agree, we were still buds and we could end the lesson with a nice big hug. HA-HA
Well I pretty much told you everything that has been going on this week. I have been trying to find out the range between being bold and not being overbearing! As I follow the spirit I hope what I say will be exactly what is needed. Also, my Spanish is coming along really well and I’m fluent right now, I just need to work on expanding my vocabulary and using new words every day. The Lord has really helped me with the language as I have come unto him for help.
Love,
Elder Payne
Dear family and friends,
Que Paso? Dang, this week has flown by with my boy Elder White. It is so crazy that this transfer is almost over. Next Monday is transfers and I don’t know if I’m heading out or staying here. I've heard talk that I might be going English speaking because every Spanish Elder has to serve at least 6 months in English so we will see what happens. To be honest, whatever happens or wherever I’m sent I’m cool with because I’m ready to work wherever the Lord wants me to be. I’ll let you know what happened this week and what I’ve learned.
We have our Zone activity happening today and that will be pretty sweet. It is really cool out here because all the missionaries are like family, its sick. I’ll get a call at night after getting back home from my boys in other areas just calling to see what’s up and see how the works going. We really have each other’s backs out here and its pretty legit.
I got to give a spiritual thought at District meeting last Tuesday and that went pretty well. It was about how you can have joy on your mission. The spirit was there as I shared with all the missionaries, it’s not how many baptisms you get or lessons you teach, but how boldly you are willing to share the gospel. Many missionaries only look for the visual fruits of their labors and don't notice all the things that happen that they can't see. It was pretty sweet and I think I helped some missionaries in our district realize that it's not all about what you can see from hard work, but that the fact you’re giving it your all and truly converted! I can truly say as I have taken this perspective on my mission I have been so happy, as every day I talk to anyone I see and share my testimony when I feel prompted. Chyeah!
Elder White and I rearranged the apartment and it’s looking pretty legit. Ill finish this up later, I have got to go to the zone activity now!
We just got back from the Zone activity and it was sick! We went to this place in Tigard where it’s just a huge warehouse with trampolines everywhere! Everyone was going crazy doing gainers and back flips everywhere. There was a sweet foam pit that people were just diving into ha-ha. We then got a huge game of dodge ball going and it was crazy. I got rocked in the face but the balls weren't that hard so it was all good! It was pretty good to get the whole Spanish Zone out and the English Zone out as well.
Well, I’ve told you a lot about Antonio and how he's the man. Well, one day last week we decided to stop by and see how he was doing. When we stopped by he told us that he wants to be baptized, but he’s still not sure if the church is true. We set a baptismal date for him that he can work towards and it’s the 26th of March. He accepted and it was pretty sweet. Well we stopped by last night and talked to him and found out a doubt that he has. His doubt is that we claim that we are the only ones with the authority of God to baptize and confirm the gift of the Holy Ghost. He thinks that other churches have authority and if you live your life just keeping the commandments it doesn't matter. He has this doubt because many of his family are members of so many different faiths and he doesn't want to believe that they don't have the authority in these other churches too. But we talked to him and explained the great apostasy really well. He still couldn’t understand or maybe didn't want to understand. Well we told him that we would bring him to Mario Papa's house this Tuesday and explain it to him really well. So I hope that the spirit can touch his heart tomorrow as we try to share the most important message that we can with him. Rosa, a lady that just moved here from West Salem, is really awesome. I feel really sad because she is living in a really hard situation. She is a single mother with 5 children living in a tiny little apartment. So we have been trying to help her strengthen her relationship with God and haven't really talked too much about baptism as she really needs help. We talked to the President of the Branch and we are going to go over there soon and give them some help. She is really awesome and she wants to follow the Savior, she just is going through some really hard times. Maria Ceja is holding up really well, we taught her about authority and Joseph Smith and she accepted the message of the restoration! She still has a baptismal date on the 12th and we will talk to her more this week about it. We have been teaching this family and I think that the son is the most interested, his name is Juan. We met them knocking and he is pretty sweet. We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and what we need to do to return to Heavenly Father after this life. We have a ton of investigators to be honest, we just need to cut down and find out who is really willing to keep their commitments. We have also been focusing on having more member present lessons to create a relationship between the investigators and the members. The members are behind us and it’s pretty sweet. The Lord has been blessing us with people to teach, we just need to find a way that we can get them to come to church.
My companionship is going really good. Elder White has grown like 100% from the first time I met him. He isn't as shy and now he is willing to talk to anyone. I guess it’s true if you care about someone, then they will trust you and then your friendship or relationship will grow. It’s been a really good learning experience and Elder White has truly helped me to grow!
Let me think if anything funny happened this week! We went to go teach Antonio and he lives with two roommates named Jose and Matt. Matt is like a huge 6'3 Mexican guy with a mustache and Jose is a little guy who usually likes to argue. So while we were teaching Antonio, Matt comes up and is like, “I don’t believe in your Book of Mormon." He basically just told us things that he heard from his Catholic Priest but after I shared my testimony about how I knew it was true the room got kind of quiet. He was like, are you going to cry? And I was like," Naw man, I haven’t cried since like 3rd grade." And then he said to me," It’s alright to cry man, I cry sometimes!" It got quiet again and I asked," Really?" He then told me," I don’t cry because I’m a girl, but sometimes you got to cry!" After talking for a little bit more I got up and gave everyone in the room a hug. I knew that even though Matt and Jose didn't agree, we were still buds and we could end the lesson with a nice big hug. HA-HA
Well I pretty much told you everything that has been going on this week. I have been trying to find out the range between being bold and not being overbearing! As I follow the spirit I hope what I say will be exactly what is needed. Also, my Spanish is coming along really well and I’m fluent right now, I just need to work on expanding my vocabulary and using new words every day. The Lord has really helped me with the language as I have come unto him for help.
Love,
Elder Payne
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Having Fun Down in Keizer
February 22, 2011
Dear family and friends,
Yo, what’s going on? This week has been pretty crazy and full of some sweet experiences. I’ll try to fill you in on all that has happened and how things are going down here in Keizer Oregon.
I have to tell you something guys, you know how I told you that I have been struggling with pride out here and people telling me what to do and what to work on? Well the Lord has helped me improve on this problem as I have come unto him in pray. Like it says in Ether 12:27, if you come to the Lord with your weaknesses, he will make them strengths. Well I have seen the Lord make this a strength for me as I had an experience this week. At District meeting, one of the Elders in our district called me aside and told me something I need to work on. Before my mission, I would have told him, “Hey buddy, how bout you back up and mind your own business...” But as he told me what I needed to work on, I heard him out and tried to understand where he was coming from. I didn’t get angry or think in my head," Does this guy think he is better than me?" I just stood there and listened and accepted what he said. It is truly a 180 degree turn around I have seen so far as I didn’t even want to talk about him behind his back afterward ha-ha. The Lord has truly helped me make this weakness a strength as this is something I have been struggling with since the beginning of my mission, taking criticism and people telling me what I need to do.
This week we had the opportunity to go to the Portland Temple and it was so awesome. I love the house of the Lord and that temple is absolutely beautiful. A cool experience happened with the temple and me asking the Lord for help again in my prayers. The day before we were supposed to go to the temple I was really sick. I felt pretty bad and I didn’t want to go to the temple feeling bad because it would be hard to concentrate and focus on the spirit. So, that night I prayed and asked Heavenly Father if I could just be healthy for the short time I would be at the temple. The morning of the temple I woke up completely fine and didn’t feel sick at all. After an amazing experience at the temple, on the drive home I started feeling pretty bad again ha-ha. I’m still recovering from being sick now ha-ha but it is really cool that He answered my prayer as it is something that helped me to get closer to the Lord.
We have also been trying to build trust with the people that live in this area and that is exactly what I want. I want people to know that I love them and they can call me for whatever they need. It has been a pretty good experience getting to know people and show them that we really do care. I’ll give you some examples of what I mean. My main man Mario Papa was really sick this past week. My companion Elder White and I were eating dinner with the Goesch family and then I got a call from Mario papa. He asked us to come over so I told him we would be right on our way. As soon as we got there we saw Presidente Andrade (His Brother ) and then Mario lying sick in bed. He asked us if we could give him a blessing and we were glad to do so. I was grateful that Mario would call me when he needed help. Another experience that happened is when one of our investigators needed us ha-ha. After waking up at 6:30am, I got a call from our investigator named Jose. He was like, “Guys, I really need your help, I left for work like an hour ago and I forgot that I left the stove on! My Senora is in the house sleeping and I’m afraid the house is going to burn down. She doesn't have a phone and I need you guys to go over there and tell her to turn it off." So at like 6:40 in the morning we drove over there and informed his Senora that the stove was on. She turned it off and our work was done. It was pretty cool, because after we teach anyone, we give them our number and tell them to call us if they need anything, so I guess he remembered what we said. I just think it’s cool people give us a call when they need something, you feel me?
Last week I told you about Amancio and how we might have to drop him because he’s pretty old and he forgets most of what we tell him. Well, one day we stopped by this week and he told us that he has been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and believes it’s true. He believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet as well. I wish I had a tape recorder with me so I could play back what he said when he forgets ha-ha. Well, he is going to get an operation on his eyes tomorrow so we will pass by again and see how he is holding up.
Remember how I told you that my boy David was getting baptized! Well, since the Elders in the other area in Keizer and we are so close I have been able to get to know David pretty well. He was baptized last Friday and he asked me to give a talk at his baptism. I gave a talk about baptism and the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father. It was a pretty cool experience and David is the man. He is 20 and he wants to serve a mission as soon as possible. Anyway, David reminds me of my friends from back home and that's why he and I have become pretty good friends.
We do have funny things happen out here all the time and recording them helps me remember that the Lord must have a sense of humor too. Well, we went to go see an investigator this week at like one in the afternoon. When we knocked, this drunken guy answered the door and we asked him if Luis and Lorena were there. He said," I’m going to get them back for what they did to me, just you watch!" Elder White and I just stood there as we watched this guy go from apartment to apartment banging on peoples walls. Lorena came to the door and I asked her what he was doing. She told me that he always does this. Anyways, while we were talking to Lorena, the guy came over and was like," Hey, I’m going with them to church on Sunday." We went back later that week to check on him and he still really did want to go to church. It’s true that you can’t judge anyone and people do want to change.
I’ll tell you something kind of funny. One night we didn’t have a dinner appointment and all I had at the apartment was a can of Bushes baked beans. I ate the whole can by myself G, 6 servings of beans. To be honest, I never want to have another can of those Beans again, but it was a learning experience.
Give my love to everyone,
Love,
Elder Payne
Dear family and friends,
Yo, what’s going on? This week has been pretty crazy and full of some sweet experiences. I’ll try to fill you in on all that has happened and how things are going down here in Keizer Oregon.
I have to tell you something guys, you know how I told you that I have been struggling with pride out here and people telling me what to do and what to work on? Well the Lord has helped me improve on this problem as I have come unto him in pray. Like it says in Ether 12:27, if you come to the Lord with your weaknesses, he will make them strengths. Well I have seen the Lord make this a strength for me as I had an experience this week. At District meeting, one of the Elders in our district called me aside and told me something I need to work on. Before my mission, I would have told him, “Hey buddy, how bout you back up and mind your own business...” But as he told me what I needed to work on, I heard him out and tried to understand where he was coming from. I didn’t get angry or think in my head," Does this guy think he is better than me?" I just stood there and listened and accepted what he said. It is truly a 180 degree turn around I have seen so far as I didn’t even want to talk about him behind his back afterward ha-ha. The Lord has truly helped me make this weakness a strength as this is something I have been struggling with since the beginning of my mission, taking criticism and people telling me what I need to do.
This week we had the opportunity to go to the Portland Temple and it was so awesome. I love the house of the Lord and that temple is absolutely beautiful. A cool experience happened with the temple and me asking the Lord for help again in my prayers. The day before we were supposed to go to the temple I was really sick. I felt pretty bad and I didn’t want to go to the temple feeling bad because it would be hard to concentrate and focus on the spirit. So, that night I prayed and asked Heavenly Father if I could just be healthy for the short time I would be at the temple. The morning of the temple I woke up completely fine and didn’t feel sick at all. After an amazing experience at the temple, on the drive home I started feeling pretty bad again ha-ha. I’m still recovering from being sick now ha-ha but it is really cool that He answered my prayer as it is something that helped me to get closer to the Lord.
We have also been trying to build trust with the people that live in this area and that is exactly what I want. I want people to know that I love them and they can call me for whatever they need. It has been a pretty good experience getting to know people and show them that we really do care. I’ll give you some examples of what I mean. My main man Mario Papa was really sick this past week. My companion Elder White and I were eating dinner with the Goesch family and then I got a call from Mario papa. He asked us to come over so I told him we would be right on our way. As soon as we got there we saw Presidente Andrade (His Brother ) and then Mario lying sick in bed. He asked us if we could give him a blessing and we were glad to do so. I was grateful that Mario would call me when he needed help. Another experience that happened is when one of our investigators needed us ha-ha. After waking up at 6:30am, I got a call from our investigator named Jose. He was like, “Guys, I really need your help, I left for work like an hour ago and I forgot that I left the stove on! My Senora is in the house sleeping and I’m afraid the house is going to burn down. She doesn't have a phone and I need you guys to go over there and tell her to turn it off." So at like 6:40 in the morning we drove over there and informed his Senora that the stove was on. She turned it off and our work was done. It was pretty cool, because after we teach anyone, we give them our number and tell them to call us if they need anything, so I guess he remembered what we said. I just think it’s cool people give us a call when they need something, you feel me?
Last week I told you about Amancio and how we might have to drop him because he’s pretty old and he forgets most of what we tell him. Well, one day we stopped by this week and he told us that he has been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and believes it’s true. He believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet as well. I wish I had a tape recorder with me so I could play back what he said when he forgets ha-ha. Well, he is going to get an operation on his eyes tomorrow so we will pass by again and see how he is holding up.
Remember how I told you that my boy David was getting baptized! Well, since the Elders in the other area in Keizer and we are so close I have been able to get to know David pretty well. He was baptized last Friday and he asked me to give a talk at his baptism. I gave a talk about baptism and the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father. It was a pretty cool experience and David is the man. He is 20 and he wants to serve a mission as soon as possible. Anyway, David reminds me of my friends from back home and that's why he and I have become pretty good friends.
We do have funny things happen out here all the time and recording them helps me remember that the Lord must have a sense of humor too. Well, we went to go see an investigator this week at like one in the afternoon. When we knocked, this drunken guy answered the door and we asked him if Luis and Lorena were there. He said," I’m going to get them back for what they did to me, just you watch!" Elder White and I just stood there as we watched this guy go from apartment to apartment banging on peoples walls. Lorena came to the door and I asked her what he was doing. She told me that he always does this. Anyways, while we were talking to Lorena, the guy came over and was like," Hey, I’m going with them to church on Sunday." We went back later that week to check on him and he still really did want to go to church. It’s true that you can’t judge anyone and people do want to change.
I’ll tell you something kind of funny. One night we didn’t have a dinner appointment and all I had at the apartment was a can of Bushes baked beans. I ate the whole can by myself G, 6 servings of beans. To be honest, I never want to have another can of those Beans again, but it was a learning experience.
Give my love to everyone,
Love,
Elder Payne
Monday, February 14, 2011
Keepin on in Keizer
February 14, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
What’s Poppin? Things have been flying by pretty fast and I've already been out for 1/4 of mission and it’s crazy! It feels like I just left the MTC and met my trainer but that's not the case. Things are going great out here as usual and I’m not wasting a minute. We had a sweet Zone Fireside where the Stake President and his counselor Brother Cowan, Sister Cowan’s husband, talked to us. The Zone fireside was sweet and Brother Cowan said something that really caught my attention while talking to us. He said that not a day has gone by in his life that he hasn't remembered his mission so he told us to, “Take your mission by the throat and strangle it!" I felt what he was saying and that he was just saying not to waste a minute. Really, I only have two years out here and that's two years to murk!
I’ve been listening to the 179th General Conference talks in Spanish like every day in the car and in the apartment. It's so awesome because it helps you learn Spanish and feel the spirit at the same time. Anyway, I have been listening to Elder Henry B. Eyring's talk about how you have got to help out your fellow brother. It is the talk when he says “Man Down”. Jesus teaches that we are our brother’s keepers and we need to help each other in time of need. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!
District meeting was sick and we are buckling down here in the mission! We are trying to show the Lord we are truly converted and not just out here to do our time. President Dyches has come out with what he calls the OPM culture. It’s how we are supposed to roll and live our lives out here. So we basically went over that and the Zone leaders all promised us some sweet blessings if we fast every Sunday this month! I have a really strong testimony of fasting and the fact that it is a little sacrifice but the blessings we can receive will always be greater than the sacrifice. That's one thing that I have learned out here on my mission. The Lord asks us to do things that seem like sacrifices at times but he always promises more blessings that we can receive if we just do what He asks. Like the Word of Wisdom for example, some people see that as a sacrifice, giving up coffee or cigarettes. But the way I see it, the blessings we can receive from just doing what God says far exceed the temporal benefit or satisfaction of any substance.
We had a pretty cool experience last week. We were knocking doors and we ran into a preacher. I asked him if he would be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ and he straight up told us he was a preacher. Then I was like," Hermano, it’s all good, this message is for everyone!" Usually out here, missionaries don't like talking to preachers because all they want to do is argue and Bible bash. Well he let us in and right when we walked into his house he was like, let me go grab my bible. Then I was like," Naw it’s all good, we actually have to go to another appointment, but we would like to pray with you!" He was like alright. Well I asked him how he prayed in his church and he told me that they all held hands. I was cool with that so we all just held hands and he prayed for us. It was pretty sweet because in the beginning he just wanted to argue but during his prayed he just asked Heavenly Father to help us spread the word of God. What I learned from that is that it is good to avoid contention and meet on the common ground that God is our Heavenly Father when people don't agree or aren't willing to listen.
Prayer. Wow I don't even know where to begin with pray other than the fact that it is one of the greatest gifts we are given in my opinion. I was listening to a talk by the Prophet and he said something I really liked. He said that prayer is the Portal to Peace. That is so true and I have had many experiences that have helped me to have peace through prayer. I am also trying to get better at recognizing my answers to my prayers as many scriptures say that God will answer your prayers. Ask and you shall receive. Even the scripture that Joseph Smith read when searching for the truth in James 1:5. Well I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers so I am further trying to listen and feel for the answer through my thoughts and impressions. It explains really well in Brother Bott’s book Preparation Precedes Power how you can receive your answer. Through your heart and mind, not just one of them but both. My goal is to understand the Lord and his promptings that he can give us. The Lord wants to bless us, we just need to have the faith to ask Him and the patience to listen for the answer.
I have included a picture of one of our investigators named Maria and she is the best! She is always reading the Book of Mormon when we come over and she even sings to us. She is really spiritual and writes letters to Heavenly father. It is pretty awesome and she let me have one of her letters to God. We have been teaching her and have invited her to be baptized and she has accepted. She is so cool and I just love listening to her talk! She even came to the Valentine Day Church dance and she had a good time.
My good friend Amancio is a great guy and it’s really hard to teach him because he always forgets what we teach him. It is always a good experience to teach him because he accepts what we teach, but he is just so old and doesn't really have any support from his family he is living with. We have been teaching this family that we met named Saul and Maribel and they are pretty nice people. We taught them about the restoration and they really were able to understand how the restoration was necessary because of the Apostasy. The problem that we always reach with many people that we meet is that they love to listen to the word of God, but when it comes down to them having to make a commitment, they aren't as willing to do so. So what we are trying to do is find the people that are ready for the gospel and in the mean time teaching as many people as possible.
We continue to have activities and the Branch members are being supportive as they attend the activities we have been organizing! We just had movie night and my boy Antonio came out to watch the movie The Testament with us. I told you how we have two companionship's that cover this one Branch, well the Elders in Salem, Elder Wienert and Elder Rangel are baptizing this awesome guy named David this week. He is the man and he is 20 years old. He wants to serve a mission like us and we have been helping him to be prepared by bringing him with us a lot of places to do service and stuff. I have taught David many times as we have had many exchanges and I have had the opportunity to know him pretty well. He is a G and he has asked me to give a talk at his baptism this Friday, it’s gonna be pretty legit and I’ll let you know how it goes! Something funny that happened this week was that we went to the Valentines Dance. At the dance, David, was standing in the corner. I went up to him and asked him why he wasn't dancing and he told me that he gave up dancing. He told me that he used to dance a lot but he gave up his passion for dancing a long time ago. Everyone kept coming up to him asking him to come and dance but he kept on saying no. So after being asked to dance so many times, David just couldn't take it anymore and just snapped. He ran onto the dance floor and started dancing his heart out. Two years of being bottled up and not dancing was all unleashed on the dance floor as David showed everyone his moves. It was pretty funny to see him retake his passion for dancing at the Valentines dance.
That’s about it for this week. I love it out here and am learning so much about myself and how much our Father in Heaven loves each of us. Be good and pray for my investigators OK?
Love,
Nathan
Dear Family and Friends,
What’s Poppin? Things have been flying by pretty fast and I've already been out for 1/4 of mission and it’s crazy! It feels like I just left the MTC and met my trainer but that's not the case. Things are going great out here as usual and I’m not wasting a minute. We had a sweet Zone Fireside where the Stake President and his counselor Brother Cowan, Sister Cowan’s husband, talked to us. The Zone fireside was sweet and Brother Cowan said something that really caught my attention while talking to us. He said that not a day has gone by in his life that he hasn't remembered his mission so he told us to, “Take your mission by the throat and strangle it!" I felt what he was saying and that he was just saying not to waste a minute. Really, I only have two years out here and that's two years to murk!
I’ve been listening to the 179th General Conference talks in Spanish like every day in the car and in the apartment. It's so awesome because it helps you learn Spanish and feel the spirit at the same time. Anyway, I have been listening to Elder Henry B. Eyring's talk about how you have got to help out your fellow brother. It is the talk when he says “Man Down”. Jesus teaches that we are our brother’s keepers and we need to help each other in time of need. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!
District meeting was sick and we are buckling down here in the mission! We are trying to show the Lord we are truly converted and not just out here to do our time. President Dyches has come out with what he calls the OPM culture. It’s how we are supposed to roll and live our lives out here. So we basically went over that and the Zone leaders all promised us some sweet blessings if we fast every Sunday this month! I have a really strong testimony of fasting and the fact that it is a little sacrifice but the blessings we can receive will always be greater than the sacrifice. That's one thing that I have learned out here on my mission. The Lord asks us to do things that seem like sacrifices at times but he always promises more blessings that we can receive if we just do what He asks. Like the Word of Wisdom for example, some people see that as a sacrifice, giving up coffee or cigarettes. But the way I see it, the blessings we can receive from just doing what God says far exceed the temporal benefit or satisfaction of any substance.
We had a pretty cool experience last week. We were knocking doors and we ran into a preacher. I asked him if he would be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ and he straight up told us he was a preacher. Then I was like," Hermano, it’s all good, this message is for everyone!" Usually out here, missionaries don't like talking to preachers because all they want to do is argue and Bible bash. Well he let us in and right when we walked into his house he was like, let me go grab my bible. Then I was like," Naw it’s all good, we actually have to go to another appointment, but we would like to pray with you!" He was like alright. Well I asked him how he prayed in his church and he told me that they all held hands. I was cool with that so we all just held hands and he prayed for us. It was pretty sweet because in the beginning he just wanted to argue but during his prayed he just asked Heavenly Father to help us spread the word of God. What I learned from that is that it is good to avoid contention and meet on the common ground that God is our Heavenly Father when people don't agree or aren't willing to listen.
Prayer. Wow I don't even know where to begin with pray other than the fact that it is one of the greatest gifts we are given in my opinion. I was listening to a talk by the Prophet and he said something I really liked. He said that prayer is the Portal to Peace. That is so true and I have had many experiences that have helped me to have peace through prayer. I am also trying to get better at recognizing my answers to my prayers as many scriptures say that God will answer your prayers. Ask and you shall receive. Even the scripture that Joseph Smith read when searching for the truth in James 1:5. Well I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers so I am further trying to listen and feel for the answer through my thoughts and impressions. It explains really well in Brother Bott’s book Preparation Precedes Power how you can receive your answer. Through your heart and mind, not just one of them but both. My goal is to understand the Lord and his promptings that he can give us. The Lord wants to bless us, we just need to have the faith to ask Him and the patience to listen for the answer.
I have included a picture of one of our investigators named Maria and she is the best! She is always reading the Book of Mormon when we come over and she even sings to us. She is really spiritual and writes letters to Heavenly father. It is pretty awesome and she let me have one of her letters to God. We have been teaching her and have invited her to be baptized and she has accepted. She is so cool and I just love listening to her talk! She even came to the Valentine Day Church dance and she had a good time.
My good friend Amancio is a great guy and it’s really hard to teach him because he always forgets what we teach him. It is always a good experience to teach him because he accepts what we teach, but he is just so old and doesn't really have any support from his family he is living with. We have been teaching this family that we met named Saul and Maribel and they are pretty nice people. We taught them about the restoration and they really were able to understand how the restoration was necessary because of the Apostasy. The problem that we always reach with many people that we meet is that they love to listen to the word of God, but when it comes down to them having to make a commitment, they aren't as willing to do so. So what we are trying to do is find the people that are ready for the gospel and in the mean time teaching as many people as possible.
We continue to have activities and the Branch members are being supportive as they attend the activities we have been organizing! We just had movie night and my boy Antonio came out to watch the movie The Testament with us. I told you how we have two companionship's that cover this one Branch, well the Elders in Salem, Elder Wienert and Elder Rangel are baptizing this awesome guy named David this week. He is the man and he is 20 years old. He wants to serve a mission like us and we have been helping him to be prepared by bringing him with us a lot of places to do service and stuff. I have taught David many times as we have had many exchanges and I have had the opportunity to know him pretty well. He is a G and he has asked me to give a talk at his baptism this Friday, it’s gonna be pretty legit and I’ll let you know how it goes! Something funny that happened this week was that we went to the Valentines Dance. At the dance, David, was standing in the corner. I went up to him and asked him why he wasn't dancing and he told me that he gave up dancing. He told me that he used to dance a lot but he gave up his passion for dancing a long time ago. Everyone kept coming up to him asking him to come and dance but he kept on saying no. So after being asked to dance so many times, David just couldn't take it anymore and just snapped. He ran onto the dance floor and started dancing his heart out. Two years of being bottled up and not dancing was all unleashed on the dance floor as David showed everyone his moves. It was pretty funny to see him retake his passion for dancing at the Valentines dance.
That’s about it for this week. I love it out here and am learning so much about myself and how much our Father in Heaven loves each of us. Be good and pray for my investigators OK?
Love,
Nathan
Monday, February 7, 2011
February 7, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
Everyday is something new out here in Oregon, the only problem is that it’s hard for me to write an intro for every letter so I’m just going to start out with what’s been going on and what I've learned. I’ve learned a lot too as I have felt the spirit, and when you feel the spirit, you can't deny it.
My companion Elder White and I are rocking out and getting along really well right now. It’s like what you said in your letter Dad; you have got to find that common ground. I kind of relate it to being bilingual, but to everyone’s different personalities. Like for instance, if I’m bilingual in more than one language like Russian, Spanish, English, and French, I can communicate with more people. But if you’re bilingual in the aspect that you can relate to peoples different personalities, you’re going to be able to communicate with more people as well. Like for Elder White, he’s just a quiet guy, but you’ve got to break down that wall G, then you can rock out on that common ground. It’s taken sometime but the walls are broken and now things are going better than if I didn't try to communicate at all and was content with not talking that much. I’ve learned in relating to others that you just have to break down some walls in order to communicate better. I have learned that anyone that you’re with on your mission is fine, as long as you’re both willing to work hard together.
Something we’ve been trying to do is show the investigators we have that we care about them and not just show up to their house and teach them, but find out what they’re about and what they like to do. So in that sense we’ve been doing a lot of cool stuff with our investigators and getting to know them. For instance, Amancio, the 70 year old G, loves to go on morning walks. So one day I thought it would be cool to walk with him. So during our morning walk, we walked to the local Goodwill and my boy Amancio bought a stapler ha-ha. I also got like 20 new ties for like $1.59 because it is a Goodwill store where you buy things by the pound, Chyeah! We then went and taught Amancio about the Book of Mormon. Also you know my main man Antonio, he likes going to the Pulga (Flea Market) on Saturdays and Sundays so we walked with him there. It was cool and we contacted some people there. We even got to help draw a mural on one of the walls of the flea market. I’ll send you some pictures of what I’m talking about. Showing our investigators that we care is what it’s all about. Antonio called me Sunday morning because he wanted to go to church but he didn't have a ride. We couldn't find him a ride so we just went to his house and walked with him to Church.
Things have been going pretty good here in Keizer and I’m going to let you in on what’s been going down over here. I’ll start with my main man Antonio. Antonio has been to church 4 times so far and he says he really likes it. He has had a tough life and is going through some problems now. We have explained to him many times that with the gospel of Jesus Christ he can change and be the man he wants to be. He shows desires to change as he calls us to go to church and likes going to all the Church activities. He has a problem with the word of wisdom but is trying. In my opinion I don’t feel like Antonio is ready right now to be baptized, but I do have a strong feeling that in the future, he will be ready and willing to come unto the Lord. We will continue to work with him as he likes coming to church and spending time with the members. Amancio is another awesome guy we are teaching, he has had like 3 baptismal dates so far but he keeps on forgetting because he pretty old. One day we stopped by and he asked us why there were so many different religions. We have explained it to him a couple times already but this time we told him to pray about it. So in the lesson he prayed about it and told us he felt good about Joseph Smith and the Church, we will continue to help Amancio feel the spirit and get ready for baptism. Lorena, a less active member we found knocking has shown desires to come back to church. She has 4 kids and we are going to start teaching them the lessons. We are teaching her that this gospel will bring peace back into her life and help her kids grow up in the right path. We have been working a lot with the members and the work is paying off as we are receiving referrals. The Branch members know that we are here to work and not play around. We have found a lot of new people to teach and as always we are trying to help them feel the spirit and act on their feelings. This work isn't easy, but it’s worth it, I know the Lord will bless me as I continue to try and do his will.
Last Fast Sunday was so awesome as the Spirit was so strong in the Rama. Tiffani got up and shared her testimony and so did I. Antonio told me that he felt something in Sacrament meeting and I explained to him that it was the Holy Ghost. I hope that this prompting from the Spirit can give him the drive and the push he needs to completely change. You know what’s pretty tight, when you fast with a purpose, you aren't even that hungry. I have a strong testimony of fasting and that the Lord truly will help us if we are faithful. I look forward to Fast Sundays now and the Spirit is so strong during testimony meeting. You are like more receptive to the spirit when you are fasting, it’s pretty legit.
We ate with Sister Robison’s sister, Sister Cowan and it was so good!!! Hey Mom thanks for writing me the letters in Spanish, I’ll write you back in Spanish soon, it really helps me with my Spanish too and I can understand everything in your letters. I’ve also been writing Valeria in Maipu, Chile in Spanish every Monday and she sent me a scarf, gloves, and a hat in the mail. Thanks so much for the package too!! I have been rocking out to the LDS Children’s Hymns in Spanish and it has been legit! It’s all about rolling around town with the windows rolled down, jamming to Primary songs in Spanish! It’s helped me out a lot and I’ve memorized a lot of songs like Popcorn Popping and If you had a birthday!
A lot of funny things happened this weekend. We did some service this week and we showed up in our church clothes because we didn’t have time to change. Well Polo gave us these sweet jumpsuits to wear over our suits and we looked like we were prison inmates doing community service. Something else funny that happened is that we were playing basketball with Juan Carlos Deloya (member) and he went to drive into the basket for a strong layup. Well I was playing some tough D so he wasn't able to drive in, so he had to do a fade away jump shot. As he jumped to fade away, he elbowed Elder Rangel right in the eye and Elder Rangel got the fattest black eye. It was pretty funny because now Elder Rangel is walking around with a black eye, looking like he got punched by someone for preaching the gospel. Anyway, everyday something happens and it’s pretty good!
By the way, my Spanish is getting a lot better thanks to the Lord.
Love,
Elder Payne
Dear Family and Friends,
Everyday is something new out here in Oregon, the only problem is that it’s hard for me to write an intro for every letter so I’m just going to start out with what’s been going on and what I've learned. I’ve learned a lot too as I have felt the spirit, and when you feel the spirit, you can't deny it.
My companion Elder White and I are rocking out and getting along really well right now. It’s like what you said in your letter Dad; you have got to find that common ground. I kind of relate it to being bilingual, but to everyone’s different personalities. Like for instance, if I’m bilingual in more than one language like Russian, Spanish, English, and French, I can communicate with more people. But if you’re bilingual in the aspect that you can relate to peoples different personalities, you’re going to be able to communicate with more people as well. Like for Elder White, he’s just a quiet guy, but you’ve got to break down that wall G, then you can rock out on that common ground. It’s taken sometime but the walls are broken and now things are going better than if I didn't try to communicate at all and was content with not talking that much. I’ve learned in relating to others that you just have to break down some walls in order to communicate better. I have learned that anyone that you’re with on your mission is fine, as long as you’re both willing to work hard together.
Something we’ve been trying to do is show the investigators we have that we care about them and not just show up to their house and teach them, but find out what they’re about and what they like to do. So in that sense we’ve been doing a lot of cool stuff with our investigators and getting to know them. For instance, Amancio, the 70 year old G, loves to go on morning walks. So one day I thought it would be cool to walk with him. So during our morning walk, we walked to the local Goodwill and my boy Amancio bought a stapler ha-ha. I also got like 20 new ties for like $1.59 because it is a Goodwill store where you buy things by the pound, Chyeah! We then went and taught Amancio about the Book of Mormon. Also you know my main man Antonio, he likes going to the Pulga (Flea Market) on Saturdays and Sundays so we walked with him there. It was cool and we contacted some people there. We even got to help draw a mural on one of the walls of the flea market. I’ll send you some pictures of what I’m talking about. Showing our investigators that we care is what it’s all about. Antonio called me Sunday morning because he wanted to go to church but he didn't have a ride. We couldn't find him a ride so we just went to his house and walked with him to Church.
Things have been going pretty good here in Keizer and I’m going to let you in on what’s been going down over here. I’ll start with my main man Antonio. Antonio has been to church 4 times so far and he says he really likes it. He has had a tough life and is going through some problems now. We have explained to him many times that with the gospel of Jesus Christ he can change and be the man he wants to be. He shows desires to change as he calls us to go to church and likes going to all the Church activities. He has a problem with the word of wisdom but is trying. In my opinion I don’t feel like Antonio is ready right now to be baptized, but I do have a strong feeling that in the future, he will be ready and willing to come unto the Lord. We will continue to work with him as he likes coming to church and spending time with the members. Amancio is another awesome guy we are teaching, he has had like 3 baptismal dates so far but he keeps on forgetting because he pretty old. One day we stopped by and he asked us why there were so many different religions. We have explained it to him a couple times already but this time we told him to pray about it. So in the lesson he prayed about it and told us he felt good about Joseph Smith and the Church, we will continue to help Amancio feel the spirit and get ready for baptism. Lorena, a less active member we found knocking has shown desires to come back to church. She has 4 kids and we are going to start teaching them the lessons. We are teaching her that this gospel will bring peace back into her life and help her kids grow up in the right path. We have been working a lot with the members and the work is paying off as we are receiving referrals. The Branch members know that we are here to work and not play around. We have found a lot of new people to teach and as always we are trying to help them feel the spirit and act on their feelings. This work isn't easy, but it’s worth it, I know the Lord will bless me as I continue to try and do his will.
Last Fast Sunday was so awesome as the Spirit was so strong in the Rama. Tiffani got up and shared her testimony and so did I. Antonio told me that he felt something in Sacrament meeting and I explained to him that it was the Holy Ghost. I hope that this prompting from the Spirit can give him the drive and the push he needs to completely change. You know what’s pretty tight, when you fast with a purpose, you aren't even that hungry. I have a strong testimony of fasting and that the Lord truly will help us if we are faithful. I look forward to Fast Sundays now and the Spirit is so strong during testimony meeting. You are like more receptive to the spirit when you are fasting, it’s pretty legit.
We ate with Sister Robison’s sister, Sister Cowan and it was so good!!! Hey Mom thanks for writing me the letters in Spanish, I’ll write you back in Spanish soon, it really helps me with my Spanish too and I can understand everything in your letters. I’ve also been writing Valeria in Maipu, Chile in Spanish every Monday and she sent me a scarf, gloves, and a hat in the mail. Thanks so much for the package too!! I have been rocking out to the LDS Children’s Hymns in Spanish and it has been legit! It’s all about rolling around town with the windows rolled down, jamming to Primary songs in Spanish! It’s helped me out a lot and I’ve memorized a lot of songs like Popcorn Popping and If you had a birthday!
A lot of funny things happened this weekend. We did some service this week and we showed up in our church clothes because we didn’t have time to change. Well Polo gave us these sweet jumpsuits to wear over our suits and we looked like we were prison inmates doing community service. Something else funny that happened is that we were playing basketball with Juan Carlos Deloya (member) and he went to drive into the basket for a strong layup. Well I was playing some tough D so he wasn't able to drive in, so he had to do a fade away jump shot. As he jumped to fade away, he elbowed Elder Rangel right in the eye and Elder Rangel got the fattest black eye. It was pretty funny because now Elder Rangel is walking around with a black eye, looking like he got punched by someone for preaching the gospel. Anyway, everyday something happens and it’s pretty good!
By the way, my Spanish is getting a lot better thanks to the Lord.
Love,
Elder Payne
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