WEEK #29

Hello friends and family!

This has been a great week. I hope you all enjoyed general conference
this weekend! I LOVED it and I took a lot from it. It was kind of
weird to not be home sitting on the couch and eating junk food during
conference! haha. But it was still good. Elder Sumner and I drove to
Dillon on Saturday for Dell's Baptism and watched conference and went
to Priesthood session, then spent the night and watched conference on
Sunday with them. It was good to be with the Williams family again.

The work here in Whitehall is going good, we have two investigators on
date for baptism (Mike and Jan.) Elder Sumner and I set the date with
them while I was here on exchanges. So it's good that I can teach them
more now! :)

So apparently there is a huge deal going on with the government and
government employees? That is such great news to hear... I'm sure it
will do wonders for getting my Visa! haha. hopefully it is over soon
and I will be able to get to Brazil without any MORE delay haha.

We have been working with a lady named Dee, we play games with her and
eat meals with her every week, and we just taught the first lesson
with her last week. It was awesome! She loved the lesson and she
started to tear up towards the end. She is strong catholic, so we are
keeping that in mind as we teach, but she says she believes in
everything that Mormons believe pretty much. So I'm really excited to
keep teaching her and see her progress. She's awesome!

I'm not sure what else to report on this week. We had zone conference
on Wednesday, so it was great to see everyone there. All of my past
companions were there, so it was a good reunion! haha. I talked with
Elder Greenwall who I was just with in Belgrade, and 3 more of the
people I was teaching there have committed to baptism now! I'm so sad
I had to leave Belgrade! it was such an awesome area. The area was
dead when Greenwall and I got there, but we worked hard and towards
the end things picked up and now the area is on fire! I'm jealous.

I'm definitely coming to visit Montana after my mission. I can't wait
to see all the great friends I've made here again.

The past few weeks I have been cooking a lot, with Elder Tayrien and
now with Elder Sumner. So that's been fun! I need to get a good
cookbook with simple recipes and stuff. Because with $135 per month we
can't afford to buy much, just simple foods. Plus we hardly have time
to make big meals. So it's been pretty fun and challenging to see what
we can come up with to eat. There have been a ton of flies in
everyone's houses because the weather is getting cold. Which reminds
me, it snowed last Friday!! like crazy! the whole week has been cold,
wet, and muddy. But today is in like the 50's and it's bright and
sunny, so that's awesome :)

Well everyone, this gospel is true! I'm so grateful to be a
missionary. I hope that the things I'm learning will help me be a
better person, husband, and father someday. No matter how hard
missionary work gets sometimes, I always find comfort in the
scriptures and in prayer, and I know I'm in the right place. I can't
remember who said it at conference, but the message really hit me. It
said, "It doesn't matter where you serve, but how." That is very true.
Whether I'm in Montana or Brazil, I can still serve with everything
I've got. The lord looks out for his missionaries and I will serve
wherever I'm called to serve.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!! Ate lago!

Elder Payne

WEEK #28

Hello everybody!

Another great week here in the Big Sky. I'm getting pretty settled in to my new area, and things are going great. We just had a baptism on Saturday, that was great. His name is Mike, he's been receiving discussions for about 3 years now but he finally decided to get baptized! :) We have another baptism next Saturday, her name is Dell and she's from Saipan and Guam. She's awesome! Her husband is a member but he has only been active since Dell has received lessons, so he is coming closer to the savior as well.

Part of my responsibility as a District Leader is watching out for all the missionaries in the District and making sure their needs are met and their areas are doing good. I also get to train newer missionaries and help them, so I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with another Elder in my district in Whitehall for a few days. It's a small town of about 1000, so it kind of reminded me of Lincoln, just more houses and less trailers haha. The work has been really slow there for a long time but we were able to set a  baptismal date with an older couple! They are so awesome, I'm so excited for them. There are so many good people here in Montana. Their names are Mike and Jan, and they love having the Elders come over. Jan called me this morning and invited us to come up for another lesson because she said they love the feeling their home has when we come, and they say they can feel God's spirit present. I'm so glad people can feel that and realize the difference in our church and that they realize what the Gospel can do for them! It really isn't the missionaries at all. It's the spirit talking to them. It is great that Whitehall now has two people on date for baptism, I'm really excited for the area and hopefully things pick up even more.

Kind of funny though, most towns in Montana are really spread out, so you have to drive a ways sometimes to go teach people. But the Elders in Whitehall got their truck taken away because they were way over their allotted miles. This happened right before I got there, so we walked in the freezing rain almost the whole time! I packed for Brazil and I only have a rain jacket, so I was dang cold. I really hope I get to Brazil before the snow comes. Everyone tells me "oh you're from Utah, you have no idea what winter is until you get to Montana!" So apparently I'm going to freeze. And my companion is from Arizona so he doesn't like the cold either! haha.

A member was going to take Elder Tayrien and I golfing today, but the weather is bad so we are going another time. But my guess is that the weather will be bad then too. So I probably will not get to go golfing! :(

We have zone conference on Wednesday with a couple of the other zones, so I'm really excited because I'll be able to see Elder Manufekai again and my last zone in Bozeman so that will be good. Tomorrow we have to drive to Butte for Leadership Council, so we will be discussing a lot of new changes  made to the mission and new rules. So that will be interesting. President Mecham is really making a lot of changes to help missionaries be more obedient. Some of the rules are frustrating but you just have to realize that it's all for a good purpose and to help us missionaries have the spirit with us.

Anyways, things are going great! I love you all very much and I hope to hear from you! Have a great week! :)

Com amor,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #26

Hey guys!

Holy smokes this past week has been crazy! Well, actually the past two
weeks. We have been sooooo freaking busy with everything, we've been
working our butts off and I am so tired haha. I should be on the
5-hour energy commercials as the person that gets the "2:30" feeling,
except I have that feeling all day! anyways..

We had a baptism on Saturday, his name is Kelly. He is so awesome!
He's such a solid guy and his testimony is getting stronger every day.
I'm so excited for him and for the example he is setting for his kids!
He will be a great addition to the ward here in Belgrade.

So we found out about transfers today, and I'm leaving Belgrade!!! I'm
so sad! I feel like I just got here. I absolutely love the members
here, the wards are so great. The work was really starting to pick up
and I feel like we were just getting started! We have a lot of good
things going right now and a big teaching pool, so I'm just glad I can
leave Belgrade with no regrets. I worked my hardest in this area and
the Lord was blessing us for our efforts. I know it.

So I'm getting transferred to a place called Dillon, it is a little
college town. I don't know much about it or even where it is haha. But
President Mecham called me to be District Leader there, so that is
awesome! I'm excited but also a little nervous, I've never been
district leader or anything before so this will be a good learning
experience for me I think. My new companion will be Elder Tayrien or
something like that, he is pretty new he's been out for 3 months I
believe. I'm excited to meet him. Oh my gosh I'm just so sad to leave
Belgrade! And I'm also sad I'm not in Brazil! haha. Stupid visas

This friday I hit my 6 month mark. I can't believe it! Time has gone
so fast. I'm already 1/4 through my mission, and it feels like I just
came out! Crazy. Oh and I also can't believe my little sister Jennie
went to homecoming!!! It seems like just yesterday I was doing the
same thing! Jennie, you looked so beautiful! And your date isn't as
ugly as I pictured he would be so that's good I guess haha. Hope you
had a good time.

Well everyone, things are going so good. Missionary work is so hard
and fun and exciting. As tired as I am, I can't imagine myself doing
anything else right now. I love it!!! I also love you all very much
and hope you have a great week. Ate mais, ti amo!!!

Love,
Elder Payne

WEEK #17

Hello everyone! :)

 

Things are going really well here. We had Logan's baptism on Saturday! It was awesome! It was both mine and Elder Manufekai's first baptism, so it was a really neat and memorable experience. Elder Manufekai received some bad news that his auntie who has cancer most likely isn't going to make it, the chemo didn't work so she doesn't have too long left. He was going through a hard time and I felt like he should baptize Logan, since he's been out longer and everything. So he performed the baptism and I confirmed Logan on Sunday. That was awesome as well!

 

This week has been really tough but really good. We've been super busy, but it has just been a roller coaster! So the Jones were supposed to get baptized this coming Saturday, but Dakota backed out because she said she isn't ready. Matthew is still getting baptized but we had to push his date back to the 23rd, so that'snext Tuesday. I will baptize him on that day, if everything goes to plan and things work out :)

 

Oh, we had another stupid bat in our cabin! This one was more aggressive and it kept us up all night! haha just when we would fall asleep it would flutter past our heads and freak us out. We finally caught it in a box yesterday, but in the process of catching it we hurt its wing, so it was unable to fly. It died this morning on the grass. I don't feel bad though, it pooped everywhere and terrorized us for a whole night!

 

I can't believe it's the middle of July! Time is going so fast. Ken and Julie, congrats on the new baby! That is so exciting. I will write you more when I have time, today is so crazy.

 

Like I said I'm short on time and these computers don't let me send pictures so I will find another way to send them soon :) Other than that things are pretty much the same old story haha. the gospel is true, i love Montana, I can't wait for Brazil, still no Visa, I'm always tired and hungry. haha I love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon. Tchau! Te amo!

 

Elder Kyle Payne