WEEK #100 LAST LETTER!!!

Friends and Family,

I hope you all had an amazing week! This will be my last newsletter, next week I will be in trainings/meetings on Monday in Cuiabá then next week I fly home. This week should be awesome though, we have a lot planned, Paulo and Marlene will be getting married and baptized on Friday if everything goes right, and we might have another baptism on Saturday or Sunday as well, we are super excited! Also we have an awesome churrasco planned, cant forget that! haha :)

It is hard to describe my feelings as my mission comes to an end. It has been by far the most challenging and intimidating thing I have ever done, yet it has been the most rewarding, fulfilling, and fun experience of my entire life. Every single person I have met has had an impact on my life, be it big or small. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had as a missionary.

I am especially grateful for my companions, my brothers, who have done so much for me over these past two years, and for all of the things they have taught me. Each and every one of them has taught me something and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve alongside them. 

I am grateful for my Mission Presidents, both in Montana and here in Brazil, for giving me opportunities to grow and become a more dedicated servant of the Lord, as well as helping me understand what it means to be a Disciple of Christ. 

I am grateful for the members in each of the areas I have served, for doing so much to help the missionaries and helping this work move forward. I am also grateful for the investigators and members I have been able to teach, who I feel have taught me more than I have taught them. Seeing them make changes in their lives and choosing to follow Christ has had such a huge impact on me personally, it builds my faith to see the gospel working in their lives and seeing the blessings that come from being obedient to the commandments and making covenants with The Lord. 

I am grateful for the opportunity God has given me to serve in Brazil, and in Montana while I waited for my Visa. I have absolutely loved my time here in Brazil, the people, the culture, the language, and I will never forget my experiences or the people I have met. 

I am grateful for my friends, who have been such great examples to me and have supported me so much throughout my mission.

I am grateful for my family, who have also given me so much support and shown so much love for me. I have often felt that I didn't treat my family well and didn't spend as much time with them before my mission as I should have. But being on a mission has really helped me understand the importance of families and spending time together. I know that through the sealing ordinances of the temple that families truly can be together forever. I know that no matter what happens, as long as we keep our baptismal and temple covenants that we can be together for eternity. I love my family and I want them to know how much I love and appreciate them. 

I am grateful for old and modern-day prophets, for the scriptures, and for the inspired men and women in the church who dedicate their lives to serving The Lord. 

Most of all, I am grateful for God and my savior Jesus Christ, who have made all of this possible. I am so grateful for the sacrifice of our Savior and Redeemer, that allows all of us to be forgiven of our sins and return to live with our Heavenly Father. I know that no matter what happens to us in this life, we can always turn to Him, he understands our pains and sorrows and will always give us comfort and strength when we need it. I am grateful for the wonderful life that God has given me. 

I know that this is Christ's church. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God. I know that by living the Gospel, that through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End we can receive eternal life and live with our Heavenly Father and Savior once again. 

I know that God lives, that He is my Father, and that I am his son.

No Regrets.

Elder Kyle Scott Payne

WEEK #99

Friends and Family,

Welllllllll how was your guys' week? Elder Rueda and I had a good week, we are still working with Paulo and Marlene, so far things are looking good for the 20th for their wedding and baptism. We will be the two testimonies at their wedding at the civil place so it will be pretty cool. They are just waiting for a few more things to get processed then it will be good to go! 

We found a couple new investigators this week, and have received quite a few referrals from the members here so we are excited! We will be contacting them this week. We are going to Sorriso today to do divisions with the zone leaders until tomorrow, and then on Friday will be going to Novo Mutum to have family night at a members house there and stay the night there then come home Saturday. We should have a pretty busy week but that's how I like it! :)

I'm trying to remember what else happened throughout the week, nothing too crazy happened it was pretty normal. We have been super blessed though, it rained and was cloudy for most of the week so it was super nice to have a break from being roasted in the sun for a change! haha.

But overall things are going great, I'm a happy missionary and I cant complain! I am so grateful for this gospel and for what it has done for me in my life, as well as for the lives of my family and friends. I am grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that he lives. He knows and loves us, he understands our troubles and sorrows, and he is always there for us to comfort and guide us. No matter how bad we may mess up or how slowly we may think we are progressing, the Lord is with us each step of the way and helping us. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, I love and miss you so much! 

Abraços,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #98

Friends and Family,

I hope you all had a wonderful week! We had a great week here in Lucas do Rio Verde, we have been working with a lot of less actives to help bring them back to church. Also we found a new investigator that seems to have a lot of potential, she wasn't able to come to church because she worked on Sunday but hopefully she will come next week. She has a lot of friends in the church so we will see. 

Also, we worked things out with Paulo and Marlene and the baptism and wedding is now scheduled for the 20th of this month, which is right before I come home so hopefully everything works out! I think it will :) 

We had some pretty funny experiences though this week, I did divisions with Elder Jeronymo while Elder Rueda was in Cuiabá, it was pretty fun. But also on Friday me and Elder Rueda went to a restaurant to get pizza, normally it is a good restaurant but on the very first piece that Elder Rueda ate he found a cockroach in it, Yes that's right a COCKROACH! We couldn't believe it, so we told the waiter and he brought us a new one, then while I was eating I found a piece of wood in my pizza, i just cracked up haha but I didn't say anything, it wasn't as bad as the cockroach at least. Then I found a hair on the next piece, it was just one thing after another. But when we went to pay we asked for a discount or just not to pay at all because it was nasty, and the lady said she would give us a discount. It cost 46.90 originally but with the discount it was cut down to R$45 instead. So we got a whopping discount of R$1.90! haha i didn't want to pay at all but she said we still had to pay. The joys...

Also Anderson Silva fought on Saturday in his return to the UFC and won, pretty much everyone in the whole city was talking about it over the weekend and yesterday haha. Brazilians love MMA so it has been fun. They kept rubbing it in my face though that a Brazilian beat an American. I was routing for Anderson Silva anyways so it didn't hurt my American pride too bad haha.

The Sisters had a baptism of an investigator on Saturday as well, they have been working with her for the past 3 months so it was good to see her baptized. Her name is Rose and she comes to our English classes on Friday nights. I will send pictures when I get to a better computer :) It is getting harder and harder to teach English though, my English is getting pretty bad haha. Every once in a while I talk to an American missionary on the phone in English but we both struggle to speak in our own language. Its hard to explain but it just happens haha.

As of now though we are hoping to have 3 baptisms before the end of this transfer, so we will keep working hard to make that happen. I know this gospel is true and I'm so grateful to be a representative of our Savior Jesus Christ at this time in my life. I am forever grateful for His sacrifice and for his love and mercy for me. I hope you all have a wonderful week (and valentines day) I love and miss you all, boa semana para todos! :)

Com muito amor,

Elder Kyle Payne