Week Twenty-Six 1-25-16

one forth..... you kidding right?!?!?!

well as said i am almost at my 6 month mark (this Friday) so that will mean i am a forth of the way through my mission...... i am not sure i like that.........

This has been an amazing experience and boy time has flown by!!! i hope that the rest of the mission will slow down a bit so i can have more time to enjoy it!!!

it has been a great week with a lot of fun moments! 

the best of it was that we had a special broadcast for missionaries world wide that was amazing!! we were trained by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder David A. Bednar, and many other amazing people!! it was so cool to listen to then and learn how to be better missionaries! there was so much insight given i am surprised my pen didn't run out of ink!!! 

Then we had simple miracles of meeting amazing people. this week we have gained 2 new investigators who are amazing!

The one was a friend of a member who came over to dinner the same time we did. we taught a bit but he already was determined to come to church! then we gave him the Book of Mormon and before we could invite him to read it he cut us off saying, "you know why i am going to read this? because i feel so good right now!" he had felt the Holy Ghost and recognized it and knew what we said was true! he is so ready and willing to come unto Christ it makes me cry tears of Joy! he is truly a valiant son of God!

The next was an investigator who moved from clintion who is progressing so fast it is amazing! he is trying now to stop smoking but he knows that he can do it with the help of God!!

it has been a great week and i am so happy for the spirit in my life. it is funny because sometimes when we have dinner with members we will feel like using the same scripture we used with another family a couple of night before. well the lesson starts of the same but the end is so different because the spirit will go in and help the new family get what they need out of the scripture! i know that he is the true teacher and as long a we do our part to prepare that he will use us as tools to teach what the person needs!

I love you all so much and i hope you have an amazing week!

Love Elder Payne

 

Week Twenty-Five 11-18-16

Yes I Am Alive!!!!
Hello everybody!!! sorry it is a day late but with the holiday i didn't get to email yesterday. so you get a Tie Tuesday letter!!! This has been a crazy week with not much happening. Most of the week entailed cleaning out numbers from the phone and visiting former investigators. There has not been too much excitement but a lot of fun. 

We also have spent a lot of time getting to know the ward and members. i am so thankful for them and their willingness to help the missionaries, especially with the cold weather! In fact funny story for y'all, we were out walking one day when a member from another ward pulled over and offered a ride! it was so nice of him to be willing to give us a ride since it was a bit chilly out side!

The interesting part of the week was Sunday night... we were in a lesson with an investigator and the lesson was amazing. we just answered simple questions about the prophet and priesthood but the spirit was there. once done we looked at our phone and was told to be inside unless you had a car or a member driving you. well this past week we had no car and was in the middle of our area away from our apartment and far from our dinner that was in an hour..... so we ran home as fast as we could to stay warm and the member picked us up to take us to dinner. It was so weird and crazy that it did get cold enough for the mission to almost shut down!!

well i Love you all so much and i hope you stay warm!

Elder Payne

Week Twenty-Four 1-11-16

HERE COMES THE COLD!!!!

Not too much to report on this week sadly. it has been a fun week full of simple missionary work! Elder Stoddard and i are currently trying to build up a teaching pool so it means a lot of contacting people. though the week we have cleaned out our phone of old numbers, including calling former investigators and seeing if they want to learn more. the same thing is done as wee have been digging in our records of people who were taught but dropped. it is a long process but we have made some promising meetings with a few of them as well as ones we have personally found knocking doors and walking around. 

unfortunately we did not get to do much knocking this week as the temperature suddenly dropped and i was still told to rest my leg a bit. fortunately i am glad to say that my ankle feels a lot better now that we will be walking all next week!!

The highlight of the week was that we has a Zone Conference on Wednesday that was amazing!! had amazing training and a lot of fun. with it being the holiday season it was a special conference that had special skits and a movie! The skits were so much fun and a great laugh. then the movie was Ephraim's Rescue oh that is such a great movie! i was in tears at the end.... but thankfully no one saw! the only weird part was that at the conference they pointed out birthdays..... including mine.... it felt weird because it feels like it is so far away but it is in a month and a half and we will not have another conference by then.... it was still so weird...

Now the funny part of the week was at church.... if you remember i said i fell last Sunday and ruined a pair of slacks i have has for 7 years... well i wore the other ones that went with that suit this Sunday and got to church. once there i noticed i had a huge hole in the behind of said slacks.... so i have now ripped two pairs of slacks in the matter of 1 week..... 

Love you all so much!

Elder Payne

PS sorry no pictures this week my camera broke and i am getting a new one!

Week Twenty-Three 1-4-16

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
well not as much to report on but did a lot of walking!

hahah it was fun actually not being able to use a car and not focus on it! a lot of work is passed by when you are in the car and you miss the simple chances. Just as we were walking to one place we passed a house without thinking. once passed the wind chimes started to go off like crazy! upon hearing that i turned around and went straight to that house. the family was home and let us talk to them. as we taught they asked a lot of interesting questions that was so fun in talking about. i lot of their concerns about the church were just simple things that our first discussion talked about. once finished they declined another visit but i know that they felt the spirit there. once left the wind chime was dead silent. yes they were not interested in learning more but i know that the spirit was there and prompted us to go to that house. it was an amazing experience to feel that guiding touch to where we were needed. 

New Years was fun but was not much different from another day... I am however excited for this will be my only full year of the mission. all of 2016 will be nothing but listening to the spirit and trying to help all people. what a wonderful way to spend a year!

The down part of the week was literally a down... as i said last week we finally got snow! it was crazy but soon turned to ice. well for the last while my ankle was bothering me but all was well. well last night as i was walking i slipped on the ice and hurt my ankle, knee, hip, and back.... as well as ripped a hole in slacks that i have owned for over 5 years. needless to say that my day was cut short yesterday and we walked home to rest. now today i am not allowed to play sports on P-day.. but thankfully it was the last day of walking so now i can let is rest for a week as we get the car!

I hope you all had an amazing New Years Day and i wish you the best in all of your endeavors! Love you Much!

 

Week Twenty-Two 12-28-15

 Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year!
Well this has been an amazing week! it has had a lot of great moments that were so awesome!

I started the week off running as we had an exchange and i was to stay in Davenport. so i needed to know what we were doing and where to go... it was fun when i still didn't know much about the area yet..... but it was amazing and we gained 2 new investigators!!!! it was great to learn the area quick and get some work done!

Tuesday night was quite an adventure as we sat in a lesson. i was feeling great and fully into the lesson and the spirit. during the lesson our phone kept going off and we just would ignore it. once we figured the lesson was over we came together to close with a prayer. in the middle of the prayer both our and the investigators phone goes off saying there is a tornado warning..... needless to say we closed the prayer, ran out, and found shelter. thankfully there was no Touchdown near us so all is well. but it was fun because that was my first tornado  warning!!!

Christmas Eve was nice, we had meeting during the day and then got to go to some members house for the evening. they had us join with their Christmas tradition of reading scriptures and listening to Handel's "The Messiah" it was amazing!!!!!!

Christmas we woke up and did presents. at about 1:30 we were lucky enough to go to another members home and Skype our families! that is always a great joy! even if my family are a bunch of Paynes ;) then we stayed with that family most of the day and had fun spending the holidays with them and their family!

Then the very next day we were called in the morning to help with some service.... picking up leaves..... in December. never thought i was going to do that in winter but the weather has been so wacky. it was really nice but we filled 22 bags of leaves that day....... it was a lot!

Then at church we were asked to give talks in Sacrament. now i had one prepared and i really liked it. one might say i had great pride in what i has written. well we all know pride is evil so Heavenly Father had to knock me down a few pegs and i forgot my talk at home that morning...... needless to say, i was humbled.... i only pray that it did turn out good and the message i wanted to convey was made known by the spirit!!!

well that's about all for the week, well i guess i must mention one thing...

Today it is freezing Rain.... it looks like snow but it is not. it is almost Hail and sketchy to drive in. good thing we don't even have the car this week! it will be a lot better to walk. but i figured i would let you know that we finally are getting some kind of winter here in Iowa!

Love ya much!! Eldet Payne

Week Twenty-One 12-21-15

well monday night i received the call that I was to be moving areas! so i am now in Davenport Ia!!!

Monday after i left you i was on an exchange with Elder Migliori and it was so much fun! we had a blast going crazy and doing work at the same time. 

Wednesday we went to the temple since it was technically P-day with transfers! such a good day but so sad knowing i wouldn't be around those missionaries for P-days anymore... 

Thursday was Transfers and i left Keokuk for the last time..... at the meeting i was told that i was to go to Davenport with Elder Stoddard! 

DAvenport is a fun area but a lot different from Keokuk. Here i am in a car share so we use the car every other week. other than that we bike or walk. we did a bit of biking but the bikes kept breaking.... looks like we will walk a lot. but it is safer in the cold weather!

Not much to report on however just a new area!

also my mailing address will be the same. it goes to the mission home and then to me at my new place. however if needed you can simply send things to  2330 E Locust Street Apt 209, Davenport Ia (not sure the zip code). it will go straight to my new place

Love you all and i hope you have a merry CHRISTmas!

Elder Payne

Inflatable Chair with Eder Jenkins and Packing for Transfers

Week Twenty 12-14-15

boy time is going by fast! it seems just like a week ago i was writing last.... wait it was! hahaha but in all honesty it has gone by super fast. 

There has been quite a lot that happened this week that was amazing. first being a simple P-day last Monday. After I left all of you last week i went to the local meetinghouse and played all sorts of games with other missionaries here in the area. we went all out and it was soo much fun. by the end a few of us had carpet burns but that would not stop us from going and doing work!!!!!

Wednesday we had the amazing opportunity of going up to Iowa city and listen to Elder Martino, a member of the 70, as he gave a missionary training. it was such an amazing experience ! Elder Martino spoke to us for over 4 hours!!!! it was crazy good! but we were all spiritually drained after that..

The next day we went to a small little town and was able to find two new people who asked us to come back and teach them more! it was so exciting to see the flame light in their eyes!  with those two new investigators it brought our teaching pool to 9 children of God who we are teaching!

With that said we had weekly planning the next day and it took us 6 hours.... it should only take 2 but we had a lot to talk about. needless to say our brains were fried by the end of it!

to add the cherry on top the next day we found a brand new investigator!!! it was hecka crazy! 

Sunday was a bitter sweet day. i had a lot of energy through the day and was really happy but then i kept thinking that it may be my last sunday with these people... it was very sad to think about but at least there is the Christmas Party the day before transfers!

Well in matters of location moving i am still not aware where i will be this time next week. today is the day that we find out if we leave but i will not receive the call until this evening. it is crazy to think i may be moving areas so soon. I have loved serving in Keokuk and will be sad if i leave but i will go where He wants me to go!

I am so thankful for the gospel and the blessings it brings into my life. i know there is no other place for me to be than serving my mission even if i don't know where exactly that is within my mission boundaries. I am so happy to be able to put on my name tag each morning and stand as a witness of Jesus Christ and his true church!

Love you all so Much!!!!

Elder Payne!

Crazy Logan, Planning and Saying Goodbye to Elder Shelley

Elders Jenkins and Payne, Saying goodbye to the Lymans, and Mission Conference for West Side

Sunsets on the Mississippi