WEEK #97

Friends and Family,

This will be a shorter letter as well, today I'm doing divisions with Elder Jeronymo, he is serving in Sorriso but both my companion and his companion are headed to Cuiabá today for a training and will come back tomorrow. So I am short on time today, I have to go to the bus station and get him.

But we had a really good week, We had some solid investigators at church, so it was good. The Caravan that went to the temple came back so the chapel was full again.

Also, we marked a date with Paulo and Marlene, the goal is February 13. They will be married and will have the service at the chapel, then right after that have their baptisms! We are so excited! They already registered at the civil place and just have to wait the 14 day waiting period to process the files and all that, then they will be married and baptized! I am super excited for the both of them, they have become my very good friends since I have been here in Lucas.

This week we also might be going to Sorriso to do divisions with the zone leaders there, but it all depends on how things work out, we will see.

But we had a great week, the branch here in Lucas is growing and I'm happy to be a part of it in this exciting time! 

Anyways, I love you all so much, I know this gospel is true and is truly a blessing in our lives. I know that part of the gospel is constant repentance and self improvement. The more we learn and progress and continue to better ourselves, God will bless our efforts and we will become more mature, confident, developed, and spiritual sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. 

"God helps those who help themselves"

Boa semana para todos!

Love,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #96

Bom dia! 

I hope you all had a great week! This week was super hot and didn't rain very much which was weird! But it was a good week for us. There was hardly anybody at church yesterday though because there was a caravan that went to the temple over the weekend, so many members from the whole district went. It was pretty weird to have the church so empty haha. Right now they are remodeling the chapel and adding a few rooms, also they are installing AIR CONDITIONING, so we are all super excited. :)

We had a good week though, we had a missionary activity at the church on Saturday again, we watched The Other Side of Heaven and made popcorn and drank lots of Tereré. It was pretty fun and had a good turnout. There were a few investigators that showed up so it was good.

We weren't able to meet with Paulo and Marlene this week, Paulo started working at nighttime and Marlene was busy running their business as well but they are still really excited to get married and be baptized. 

We have received more references as well so we will be contacting them this week. Most of the people we have contacted haven't really progressed or come to church. Most people receive us very well but have a hard time coming to church and keeping commitments. We will keep working though, we have a few investigators right now that are progressing and everything, they just need to come to church :)

Also did you guys know that Moths poop all over the place?! Apparently this time of year there are tons of moths everywhere, our house is full of them and they like to poop all over our clothes and beds! i kept finding little brownish red spots on my shirts and sheets, but finally we figured out it is the moths that are crapping everywhere haha. Learn something new every day I guess! 

We have zone training tomorrow, so the zone leaders are coming here, it should be good. Things are going really well though, we are staying busy and working hard. I hope you have a wonderful week, I love you all! 

Saudades!

Love,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #95

Familia e amigos, 

Bom dia! This letter will be pretty brief, we had transfer calls last night and I am staying here in Lucas with Elder Rueda to finish my mission! Two sisters are getting transferred though :( so we have to go encounter them and help them get their things to the bus station in a few minutes.

I'm super excited though to finish my mission here, hard to believe this is my last transfer but its part of the experience I guess. We had a good week, we had 3 investigators show up for church and two less actives so it was really good! We set a goal with Paulo and Marlene for the first week in February to get baptized, they are planning on getting married at the final of this month so things are going great! 

Overall we had a good week, I cant complain! Things are going really well here, I'm a happy missionary :) I feel with all my heart that this gospel is true and that we have a Heavenly Father who knows and loves us. I'm so glad to have the gospel in my life and I'm grateful for my opportunity to share what I know with others. I love and miss you all, BOA SEMANA PARA TODOS! 

Love,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #94

Feliz Ano Novo gente! 

I hope you all had a wonderful week, this week was great for us, we got a lot of references and met some great people! also we had several good meals and churrascos :) Its crazy to think that 2014 is already over! It was probably the hardest year of my life, but also the most fulfilling. I'm super excited for 2015 though! We have some good goals as a district and also as a companionship now, this is the last week of the transfer already but I think me and my comp will both stay here. We will see next week. 

We are still really trying to help Paulo and Marlene get married, the place where they needed to register and stuff has been closed for the holidays but it has opened back up, so now they can register and get married, hopefully this month. we just have to stay on top of it. 

We are still working to bring all of the less actives back to church, we have had little success but we are still trying. There is an awesome member named Valdir who was baptized a few months ago but only came to church one time after that, but we have finally met with him and he wants to go to church again. He just got a little discouraged because of some choices he had made and didn't feel good enough to go to church, but he is starting to realize again that it is the best place for him to be. 

This week we might be going to a city called Novo Mutum again, there is a family out there so we are going to try to go have family night with them like we did in November. It takes about an hour and a half to get there so we will see. 

I am really trying to better my Portuguese as much as I can my last two months, I have been asking a lot of questions and have been learning new words every day. Its nice when you have a Brazilian companion to help haha.

Also we are going to try to visit a lot of members this week and share messages about the restoration and the temple, because there is a caravan of people going to the temple in Campinas (São Paulo) pretty soon. It takes over a day to get there by bus, it is a big trip for everyone in the branch to get to go each year. I'm way excited for them. I think there are a couple families who are going to get sealed as well, pretty exciting. 

Last week my fan caught on fire, so we had to go buy a new one, which took forever to find a cheap one haha. The cheapest one we found that was good quality was R$130, but we talked the guy into selling it to us for 100 so it worked out okay. But it is impossible to sleep without a fan next to our beds because we don't have AC! 

Also for new years I think we went to bed at like 5 in the morning, it was pretty crazy here! We had a party and stuff and at midnight the whole city lights off fireworks, its pretty cool. But the fireworks start on like the 30th of December and go until like the 2nd of January, and all day and night on new years it just sounds like a bunch of bombs going off throughout the whole city so it was hard to sleep. But no worries it was fun, Elder Rueda and I played like 300 games of Uno haha.

Anyways, I love and miss you all! Talk to you soon, boa semana :)

Love,

Elder Kyle Payne