WEEK #34

Hello everyone!

Man this week has been crazy. It has probably been the busiest week on my mission so far! As Zone leaders we have had so much going on and I'm super tired. It kinda stinks though because since we have so much to do for the zone we don't get to work in our own area as much. But there are still some great things going on and we're excited. We have 2 investigators on date and I can't wait for them! It will be awesome. But in the past two weeks as a zone, we have gone from 5 investigators on date to 22!!! It's amazing!!! We have really worked with the elders and sisters here to commit their investigators to baptism and things are going great. The Stake and wards are helping so much too. But 22 investigators on date is a record high for the Helena Stake! I am totally bragging about it haha but I don't care I'm just so excited for the missionary work here!!!!

Me and Elder Payne had to speak at Stake Conference this weekend. That went really well! We talked about missionary work of course ;) and at the Adult Session we did a training model to demonstrate how we teach and how the members can be more effective and open to their friends about the gospel. It was awesome.

But we spent a lot of time preparing for that, as well as for the other things we had to do this week. Today we had to give discussions at both of the district meetings, tomorrow we have a New Missionary Training Conference, and next week me and Elder Payne are training the zone at Zone Training and then we have Leadership Council, so we are really busy preparing for all of that plus we are working with all of our investigators here so between everything we've been pretty busy. I'm sleeping really well at night though haha ;)

Me and Elder Payne get a lot of crap for our last names though! Everybody thinks they're suuuuper clever for coming up with nicknames haha. Like whenever we walk in somewhere people are like oh watch out here comes the Payne, or double the Payne, Payne squared, Paynes in the butt, it never ends. But it's all good. But the Temple President calls us Elder Payne the Great and Elder Payne the Wonderful. I guess that's better than being big and little payne.

Anyways, we're really working with our investigators read the book of Mormon and gain their own testimony. It's very important that they do it for themselves and not for us or for another person. We're also helping one of our investigators stop smoking and chewing tobacco! Man it's super hard for them to give it up but the Lord really is providing a way for them! We've seen many miracles so far.

Well, now I have actually heard something about my Visa! At this point we are just waiting for it to be mailed to the Mission Home, then at the next Brazilian transfer I will leave (if everything goes according to plan). I am going to have a hard time leaving Montana though. I love it here so much.

Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful week! I love you all so much.

Love,

Elder Payne

WEEK #19

Hello friends and family!

Well things are going pretty good here in Big Sky Country. We have 3
investigators now, we had to drop some of our investigators. We are
now in finding mode, we are trying to find more investigators but so
far we haven't had any luck. We have tracted out the whole town now
haha and it looked like we might have a few potential investigators
but they were mostly just being polite and didn't want us to come
back.

We had one investigator at church yesterday so that's pretty good.
Better than nothing haha :) Elder Manufekai and I taught Gospel
Principles class yesterday. It's funny how much you learn while
teaching others. It has been really hot! Unusually hot for Montana
they say. We are out of miles on our truck for this month so we have
been riding bikes to and from town. We live like 6 miles outside of
actual Lincoln so that has been pretty fun to ride... not! My butt is
so sore haha. We have been doing the Insanity Program as well for the
past week or so. OOOOHHH MY GOSHHHHH! I thought I was in pretty decent
shape but now I'm not so sure! Haha these workouts are kicking my
trash. I feel like I have more energy throughout the day though. The
most important thing is nutrition, but it's hard to buy healthy foods
when you only get $135 per month. Plus we don't have the time to
prepare big meals. But oh well we make it work :)

We weren't able to teach many lessons this past week, mostly because
we don't have many investigators! But hopefully that will change soon.
We find out if we're getting transferred next Monday, so we'll see
what happens.

This past week I have been studying 3rd Nephi. This is one of my
favorite parts in the book of Mormon. It is where Christ comes and
teaches the people. There are so many solid scriptures and principles
found in this book, so I go pretty crazy highlighting the verses haha.
Oh, have you ever heard of people putting mayonnaise on jello?
Apparently it's the thing to do up here in Montana! It's disgusting!
People just get a nice plate of jello, and plop a whopping spoonful of
mayo on it. They're ruining perfectly good jello! haha.

STILL no word on my Visa. I'm going crazy. haha. On Saturday we had a
Pioneer Day celebration in East Helena, that was fun we had a lot of
good food and met some new people from the stake. We weren't able to
get any referrals for Lincoln though.

I have really come to appreciate a lot of simple things and luxuries
in life that I didn't even realize I had until I came out on my
mission. I often took my own family for granted, because I always had
to be out doing something fun or exciting. My family was always there
but I didn't think anything of it. But now more than ever I realize
just how important family is and I am so grateful for the wonderful
family Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I hope to be able to use
the things I'm learning on my mission in my life in the future and to
continually learn and progress. Probably the thing that has stuck out
to me the most the past few weeks is that Heavenly Father gives us
trials and hardships to challenge us and help us reach our full
potential. Trials will come our way regardless, but it's up to us how
we react and overcome adversity.One of my favorite quotes is by Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr:
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy."

I know that everything that happens to us is for our own good, and God
is always watching out for us. He knows what's best!

Well everyone I hope you have a wonderful week! Work hard and stay busy! :)

Love you much,
Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #14

Oi minha familia e amigos!

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

WEEK #12

Hello friends and family!

Wow this week has been crazy busy! We have been teaching a lot and doing lots of service. One of families in the branch are moving on Wednesday to Layton, UT. I will miss them! It's crazy how missionaries get so close to members and investigators. I don't want to say goodbye to the Christiansens haha.

My comp and I have been tracting a lot, we walk everywhere! We went over our allotted miles last month on our truck, so we are trying to make up for it by walking everywhere. It's tiring! It's getting me prepared for Brazil though.

Well, we haven't made a ton of progress with the Jones' family this week, they haven't kept their commitments and didn't come to church. It's so frustrating! One day things are going great and the next day things go all wrong! Haha. Such is life. But Doc came to church so that's good. We have taught Roxy more and we are teaching her son about the priesthood, he's 13 and is really interested in becoming a deacon and everything. I know that it will help him a lot.

I have been reading the Book of Mormon a lot during personal study, and I am learning so many things! I love how you can read the same stories over and over, but still get something new from them each time. But I seriously think that somewhere down the line, somebody must have dropped the Plates and gotten them all out of order! Haha because it doesn't go completely chronologically. I have to really focus and pay attention to the details, like who is who's son, which king was righteous during what time, who came out of this land at what time, etc etc. It is so interesting and exciting to read. But I can't believe how stupid people are haha. Time and time again, people are righteous for a while, but then they become prideful and wicked, and fall into sin and temptation. Then they're either rebuked or wiped out. You'd think they would learn from the past? haha.

This has been a great and tiring week, sorry this letter is so short. I know that this gospel is true and I've seen the difference it can make in someones life. This gospel isn't just for "goody goodys" or for people in Utah haha. This gospel is for EVERYBODY. I'm so grateful that we all have the ability to partake of the Atonement and become better. No matter who you are or what you're going through, the Gospel of Jesus Christ IS the answer. This week, with the loss of a loved one, I am especially grateful for Eternal Families. I know that as long as we are faithful and endure to the end, we can have everlasting happiness with our family. What a great promise from our Heavenly Father.

Well everyone, my challenge for you this week is sort of random, but I challenge you all to just go outside and soak up some sun!  God has given us such a beautiful Earth to live on, and so many times we take it for granted. There is so much to be grateful for and so much to do. So get out and enjoy this earth we've been given :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and I can't wait to hear from you.

Much love,

Elder Kyle Payne