I
hope you all had a wonderful week! This week has been crazy awesome. I'll get
right to it! :)
Well
Transfers are this Wednesday, but my companion and I are both staying in
Lincoln. I was hoping I would stay, I love the people there and we are doing
good work. I'll tell you all about it.
So,
a lot has happened with the Jones and with Roxy. I'll start with the Jones. So
for the past couple of weeks they weren't really progressing anymore, they
weren't reading the book of Mormon and they weren't keeping other commitments.
But we just kept working with them and were patient. During one of our visits,
we felt inspired to read the first chapter if 1 Nephi with them and help them
understand and get their thoughts. They loved it, and Bro. Jones related the
story to him a lot, because he moved his family from their home Texas to
Montana. So he made that connection right off the bat, so he's like "hey I
like this guy Lehi, he trusts the lord." haha pretty cool. Anyways, they
committed to keep reading as a family and they did, they read all of chapter 1
and 2. When we showed up the next night and asked how their reading
went, brother jones said "oh we read alright, and it's getting
interesting! But man those older brothers of Nephi are stupid!"
haha we laughed so hard! It was great. Then the next night they read all
the way to chapter 4 and then came to a halt. They hit a roadblock! We
went to go follow up with them and brother Jones said he couldn't read our book
anymore, because he read the part in chapter 4 where Nephi slays Laban. He said
he didn't believe that God would tell somebody to kill another person like
that. We understood where he was coming from, and we explained why Nephi did it
and everything. It was better for one wicked man to perish than a whole nation.
But he just kept saying that god wouldn't do that, and he said well what if I
stole something, does that mean you Mormons would come kill me? haha He wasn't
being reasonable or mature about it at all, and we were both getting a little
mad, but we kept our cool and followed the spirit. I told him that we could try
to convince you all day, but the only way you can truly know for yourself is to
pray about it and ask Heavenly Father. He said he wouldn't read anymore but
he'll pray and ask. Oh man it was intense. Sister Jones, his wife, is such a
saint. She believes everything we're saying and she said she will try to get
her family to pray and see our point of view. She is pretty much ready for
baptism, except for her word of wisdom issues. But I'm so grateful for her and
the influence she has on her family!
Anyways,
as for Roxy and her family, they have been coming to church for a solid month
now, and we committed her son Logan to be baptized!!! He is such an awesome
kid. He's 12 years old and he loves the missionaries. He has been taught
everything, but we are going to teach him all the lessons again in preparation
for his baptism on the 13th of July. He said he wants me to baptize him! I'm so
excited. It will be my first baptism! He is really excited about receiving the
priesthood and everything. His mom, Roxy, isn't quite as ready for baptism as
we thought, she has word of wisdom issues and law of chastity issues. She isn't
married but she's living with her boyfriend Frank, they've been together for a
long time but just haven't gotten married. Logan's biological dad is supportive
of his baptism as well, so we should be good to go! We're praying that
everything runs smoothly and goes to plan so that he can be baptized on the
13th.
Well,
the Lord truly has blessed Elder Manufekai and I this week. Last week was a
rough one, we worked hard but didn't see the fruits of our labors, but it
definitely paid off for us this week. We've been talking to a ton of people and
have been super busy. I'm so grateful for all that has happened.
There
is still no word on my visa, and I'm about to go crazy haha. I just want to get
to Brazil so bad! It will come eventually. It's just hard because we have no
idea when it will come. Oh well.
My
challenge for you all this week is to just read the book of Mormon! It doesn't
matter how long or how much you read. Before my mission, I didn't really like
to read that much, and the book of Mormon seemed hard to understand and boring.
But since I've gotten into the habit of reading every day, I realize how
powerful and true it really is. I have learned so much from it and I'm so
grateful for it. And it isn't boring at all! haha. The stories are so
interesting and there is a lot to learn.
Anyways,
I hope you all have a wonderful week. The Lord truly loves each and every one
of you and is always there for you. Until next week, I love you much! :)
Ate
mais,
Elder
Kyle Payne
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