WEEK #45

Hey everyone!

I don't have a ton of time today so this letter will be a little short! Sorry!

But this week has been pretty good. We didn't have any baptisms, our family didn't come to church because they had to work and take care of kids. But they are still super interested and I know they will get baptized. 

Oh also BIG NEWS! We got our first male investigator! His name is Junior, he is 14 and hes waycool. He loves to play soccer so we will be playing soccer with him this evening. All of the people we have been teaching have practically been women and girls so it is really great to get a male investigator. We had some changes in the mission a while back, any investigator under 16 has to attend church 3 times before getting baptized. This is really hard for some people but its all good, it is just a little harder to baptize now. But hopefully he will come next Sunday to church! We got a lot of new investigators and taught a lot of lessons this week but we just need our investigators to keep commitments and come to church!

Oh also I had a pretty embarrassing moment this week... So in Portuguese there are two words that are really similar: Peito (chest) and Peido (fart). So we were in a lesson and I was explaining that when the Holy Ghost testifies to you what is true, most people describe the feeling as a warm feeling or a burning feeling in the chest. HOWEVER, I confused the word Peito with Peido, and so what I said was most people feel a burning feeling in their fart! Haha I didn't understand why they were laughing at first but then they told me and then i explained it right! It was super funny

Anyways, things are going really good, we will be working hard this week to try to set some baptismal dates! its about time we have some baptisms here! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Falou!

Love,

Elder Kyle Payne

Pictures!

Every time Kyle sees this ball he wants to go golfing!

WEEK #44

Beleza!

Esta semana passado fui muito loco! Well its been really hot here, and it has rained every day. And when it rains here, it POURS! The streets turn into rivers. its pretty crazy. But it has been a really really good week for us! 

We have been teaching a lot of people and we had some of our investigators come to church in Sunday! It was awesome. So we have been teaching a family that lives in our area, Auvira and her granddaughter Jessica. they all live together and Jessica has 3 little girls all under the age of 3. Anyways, we had arranged for a ride to pick them up on Sunday with us. The plan was he was to pick us up first, then swing by our investigators house to pick them up before church. But he never showed and he wouldn't answer his phone, so it was kinda crazy, because we didn't have our investigators phone number. so we were really worried that things would turn out really bad. After like half an hour of waiting for the guy to pick us up (church had already started by this time) we called a taxi, which took another 20 minutes to come get us. But we were able to pick up our investigators and all  7 of us were able to cram into the taxi. We got to the church an hour late, but our investigators said they loved it!  Luckily Sacrament meeting is the last hour of church, so They were able to go to gospel principles class and sacrament meeting. Also, we went to visit them later Sunday evening to talk to them about baptism, and Jessica told us something crazy. She said that about a month ago she had a dream that two men who weren´t from Brazil came to her house to talk to her about God and Jesus. Then she said that she thinks it was a sign that this is the true church, because she said the exact same thing she dreamed about came true in real life. It is so crazy to hear that! I am very excited for this family, Auvira´s husband passed away about 2 months ago, and she is really interested in learning about eternal families and temple work. They are on date to be baptized this Saturday so hopefully things will work out! We also had another investigator at church named Erica, she has almost 12 years and she is really cool.

Unfortunately, Sonaira wasn't able to attend church. Her mom wont let her be baptized or come to church anymore until she is 18 and has responsibility. it is suuuuper frustrating because she knows the church is true and she wants to be baptized. But we will keep working and praying that things will work out with her!

We have worked really hard this transfer and we are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors here in Ponta Porã. we have taught a lot of lessons and talked to lots of people so I'm really excited for this area! We have a great ward and the people here are awesome to help us out with missionary work. They feed us really well too! ;)

This week was kinda strange as far as missionary work goes, we met some weird people and had some weird experiences. But we had some miracles as well. Normally the rain hinders the work really bad, but we have been trying to use the rain to our advantage. So we start walking when it looks like its about to rain, and once it starts raining we hurry and run to a persons house and ask to stand under their cabana and wait for the rain to stop. And while we are waiting we talk with the people and we have taught a few lessons that way. Its been pretty fun!

Oh also, me and elder Vecchio play a game when we are out making contacts with people. We choose 3 words that the other person has to say in the next contact. So for example, Elder Vecchio would choose the words Watch, Shoes, and Tree, and I would have to fit those words in the next conversation I have with somebody. Its tough to fit random words in a conversation sometimes haha but people here are really chill and they still let us talk to them about religion haha.

We played American Football as a zone today, it was awesome! We had the whole zone there plus like 6 nonmembers, it was pretty crazy. Not everybody here knows the rules to American football, so it was pretty funny to watch what some people did! but we taught everybody and it was really fun.

Oh also, we will be moving into a new house at the beginning of next month! The house we live in right now is pretty small and we have 4 missionaries living there. it only has one bedroom and bathroom so it has been pretty hectic. But our new house is pretty sweet, it has 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms and a Churrascoria so I'm really excited! 

My Portuguese is coming along better, I am understand a lot more now and I can speak better, but it is still hard sometimes. I just have to keep studying every day. But the whole language-learning process is really weird! I pretty much think in Portuguese throughout the day and some of my dreams are in Portuguese. Its really weird when I talk to other Americans in English, I feel really weird when I talk in English, like I am pronouncing things wrong. also sentences are structured differently in Latin languages, so when I speak English I feel like it just comes out really weird! haha but its all good.

Tonight we have family home evening at a members house and hopefully our investigators will be able to make it. We will see.

Anyways, I love you all and I am so grateful for you! Have a great week, stay warm up there! ;)

Love you much,

Elder Kyle Payne

Pictures!

Elder Payne and Elder Vecchio

"nossa igreja!" (Our Church)

"POOP"

WEEK #43

Eai!

I hope you all had a great week! This week was really hot and wet, it has rained every day but it has also been super hot. It usually rains really hard in the afternoon for about an hour, then it is calm and HOT. Oh, did I mention this week was hot? Well it was! haha. Its good though, I much prefer the heat over the cold!

Anyways, I have pretty much fallen in love with Brazil. Elder Vecchio and I worked our butts off this week. We taught a bunch of lessons and made contacts with tons of people, so this next week will be really busy as well. We met an amazing family that we taught twice this week. They didn't come to church, but they have prayed and felt that our message is true and that they need to be baptized! The only problem is that our area is kind of far from the center where the church is, and they have 3 little daughters, so they would need to take the bus to the church which is like7 kilometers away. so right now we just need to find a way for them to get to church, I am sure one of the members can help us with that by giving them a ride.

Sonaira didn't get baptized this week, her mom wouldn't let her, but we are making progress! she knows its true. It is heartbreaking and frustrating when you see the difference the Gospel makes in someone's life, but they cant take that next step of being baptized. But hopefully we will have a baptism soon. Its been kind of frustrating this month, we have worked really hard and taught a lot of people, but it is just hard for them to attend church because it is pretty far and church starts at 8:15 in the morning. We will keep working though :)

My Portuguese is getting better each day but as always its still pretty hard. But I've been practicing every day and my companion has really helped me. He gives me lots of opportunities to talk and to start conversations with people so I am learning a lot faster. I'm grateful to him, for pushing me to put myself outside of my comfort zone so that I can learn.

Haha its kinda funny, missionaries kind of go through phases of homesickness I guess you could say. Me and Elder Vecchio are in the same "phase" right now haha. He has one more month than me on the mission so we are about in the same spot, but we really missed our family and friends this week! I have been on my knees a lot and I am so grateful for the comfort that comes through prayer. Heavenly Father is always mindful of us and he knows us perfectly. HE is always willing to help us, but WE are the ones who need to pray and talk to him. 

I am very grateful for the members here in Ponta Porã as well! They have been very good to us, inviting us to Churrascos and giving us rides when they see us out walking in the heat or the rain. Some of them are suuuuper funny too haha. Brazil and Argentina have a big rivalry in Soccer, so lots of people crack jokes about Argentina and the States, its funny though. The people here are amazing. The thing I love about Brazil is that pretty much everyone is willing to talk to you and be your friend! We meet somebody one time and immediately I feel like they are my friend. Everyone is willing to just relax and talk and drink Tereré with us so its awesome :)

Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all the love and support. I love you guys! Try to stay warm up there! ;)

Falou,

Elder Kyle Payne

Picture!

Christmas Conference and Birthday Celebrations
 

WEEK #42

Tranquilo gente! 

This week has been really hot and rainy! New years was crazy, it has been a tiring week as well. We have made a lot of contacts but nobody has really been interested. There have also been a lot of drunk people so that is always fun to deal with. But transfers are today, I will be staying in Ponta Porã with Elder Vecchio. He will be the new District Leader so that's pretty sweet! Also, Elder Aguilera who lives with us will be training a new missionary this transfer and he's an American so that will be fun to live with another American! It has been pretty frustrating the past two weeks, a lot of people here, especially missionaries don't like American missionaries at all. American Elders have to be really careful about what we say about home, the United States, cars, food, culture, sports, anything, because no matter what we say, some Brazilian missionaries think we are just being prideful about America and that we don't like Brazil. It's pretty annoying haha. But this mission only has like 35 or 40 Americans so we are a big minority. It can get frustrating when there is a prejudice about Americans, we just have to look past the nationality and realize that we are all missionaries for the same church doing the same work! 

We still have a girl on date for baptism this Saturday, we are praying that everything will work out with Sonaira. Her mom still doesn't want her to be baptized but hopefully she will let her! Sonaira is only 14 so we have to have parent permission. We will see how things go.

But nothing too crazy has happened this week, I didn't eat anything weird haha. But we had some awesome food for the Holidays, the people here have been really generous to us. I haven't really gotten tired of Rice and Beans surprisingly. But I have been craving a real cheeseburger lately! Also milk. I miss drinking milk. But I love all the food and fresh fruit down here :)

Elder Vecchio and I happened upon some bikes, so I think we will be riding bikes in the mornings for exercise! We just have to find some place to buy new intertubes first. Oh also, we will be getting a microwave pretty soon here, that's a miracle! Haha I cant wait.

The language is coming along, I can understand a lot more now and I don't have a problem teaching, but it is still hard I still don't know a lot of words. But I will get there eventually! The hard thing is when we run into people from Paraguay and they speak Spanish. It throws me off way bad! But a lot of my dreams are in Portuguese, its weird.

Anyways, things are gong really well down here, the work is tough but good! We are going to work hard this week to find more investigators who are ready to be baptized! 

I love and miss you all! :)

Elder Kyle Payne