WEEK #48

Beleza gente!

Oh man I don't even know where to begin!!! This past week was super crazy, so many things happened haha. Hopefully I will be able to remember everything!

So first off, we got transfer calls last night. I will be staying here in 3rd ward in Ponta Porã, and I will be training a new missionary! Also I was called to be a District Leader here. I'm a little nervous because I cant speak Portuguese as well as I want to yet but I will get there eventually! But Ive heard a little bit about my new companion, his name is Elder Rocha and he is from Rio Grande do Sul (the most southern state in Brazil). That's all i know about him! haha he will arrive here in Wednesday so we will see! I'm excited for this next transfer, we have a lot of good things going on here as far as the work goes. I'm pretty sad though I will miss Elder Vecchio, he is going to Campo Grande. But we are getting another American in our ward named Elder Dodson, he arrived last transfer. In the city of Ponta Porã, there are 3 wards and 12 missionaries. There are 4 missionaries in each ward.

Sonaira still wants to be baptized, and she said that her mom will let her be baptized on her birthday which is the 3rd of March. So we are going to be working with her mom and Sonaira to prepare for that date. I'm excited! Hopefully everything will work out.

So it has gotten harder for me to speak in English and form sentences, when I speak in English I feel dumb because I feel like the things I am trying to say don't make sense haha. Also it is hard to explain things and tell stories in English! But I had tons of crazy experiences this week, I will try to explain them hopefully everything makes sense haha. 

So we have an investigator named Cecilio, we have been teaching him. On Wednesday we taught him and his wife a lesson, and they both said that they are sick and feeling unhappy, so we offered to give them a blessing. I gave one and Elder Vecchio gave one. The blessing was great and the spirit was there, when all of the sudden a crazy drunk guy came and started yelling random things about Jesus and sinners and stuff. Turns out he is a friend of Cecilo and is a heavy alcoholic, his name is Antonio. But he said we could come over to his house and teach him and his family. He lives with his sister. We asked when we could come over and he said right now! Come with me! So after the lesson with Cecilio we went to Antonio's house and taught him and his sister and her family. Antonio was really drunk but he said he truly wants to change his life because he wants to be happy again. But after that, we taught him another time and his family. Its just funny how we met him and started teaching him! He didn't come to church because he had to go to Paraguay, but he said he will come next week. 

On Wednesday night we had a Churrasco for Elder Vecchio, he reached his year mark on his mission. That was really fun and we had lots of meat and stuff. 

Thursday, I had probably the coolest experience of my entire mission! So we are teaching this woman named Suni, she is from Paraguay and doesn't speak Portuguese hardly at all. Her husband is a Brazilian and he is a member but Suni is not. Suni was really sick and asked for a blessing, and I had the opportunity to give her one. I was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to understand the blessing because she cant understand Portuguese very well. But I had a little prayer in my heart that she would be able to understand. But once I started giving her the blessing, I was speaking in Spanish! SPANISH! I don't really remember what I said, I probably didn't say everything right but she said she understood every word. I know without a doubt that the Spirit helped me give her a blessing so that she could understand and be comforted. The Gift of Tongues is real! It was a really cool experience and I will never forget it.

On Friday morning we got a microwave and a toaster! It felt like Christmas Morning! haha I'm so excited, now we can cook more things! Our house doesn't have any pans or anything, just one pot. So the other week I bought a frying pan that I will take with me throughout my mission here so that i can eat breakfast! haha. Later that day, I had a crazy experience, I got hit by a car! Its not as bad as it sounds, but it was legit! Me and Elder Vecchio were walking uphill on this road. Here in Brazil there are lots of speed bumps randomly in the roads to keep people from going too fast. But lots of people go around the speed bumps and just keep driving fast. Anyways, I was in front and Elder Vecchio was walking behind me. I was right by the speed bump, and some idiot in a car went around the speed bump and he hit my left arm and hip! It was funny though, I didn't fall down or anything, all I did was spin around in a 180 and I was looking at Elder Vecchio! Both of us just froze out of shock of what just happened haha but then we both started laughing! It was crazy though and we are both super lucky. All I have is a little bruise on my wrist!

Later Friday night we had a Rodizio at a restaurant with a member. It was a Pizza Rodizio and I ended up eating 15 slices of pizza... i about threw up haha. The pizza here is thinner than it is in the States but still i ate a ton that night! 

Last night we had another Churrasco at a members house while we were waiting for transfer calls. But we taught a lot of lessons this week and have lots of good things going on here in Ponta Porã! I think that pretty much sums up the week, it was definitely crazy but lots of fun at the same time! 

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

Tchau,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #30

Whats up everyone?! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful week. Things in Whitehall are going really well right now, we are trying to stay busy as it is a small town. But the members and people here are so awesome. I love them. It is so hard leaving an area after you fall in love with the people there! I can tell it is going to be tough leaving Whitehall. It is a ranching community, so everyone has ranches and horses and stuff. We also cover a few small towns outside of Whitehall, so we have people we go see out there, too.

We had stake conference on Sunday in Butte, so it was good to see all the other missionaries there. Every speaker at stake conference spoke on missionary work and the importance of members to help hasten the work. It was great :)

No word on my Visa, and it's driving me nuts haha. I know I'm here in Montana for a reason though, and the Lord needs me, Elder Jackson, and Elder Rasmussen here as well. We're the remaining missionaries in Montana from the MTC district. One day we'll get there! Sometimes I wonder if I am actually going to Brazil or not! I've thought about it so much, it just seems like a dream haha.

Anyways, things have been going good as a district as well. Our Districts numbers have improved each week, and they are finding and teaching more people. I had the district set goals at District Meeting last week, and we are totally kicking butt. Our goals were to 1) Wake up on time every morning, 2) Not gossip or talk bad about previous companions, and 3) Have quality planning time each night. So far, everyone is doing awesome. I have each companionship call me when they wake up at 6:30 each morning, so we are all accountable to ourselves and each other to wake up on time. So far so good.

I have had a lot of time this week to study and ponder the scriptures. they are such a huge blessing in our lives! I wish I would have woken up and realized this when I was younger! Oh well, I have realized now :) I've really started to learn that there are many many things that I can't control, such as my Visa, investigators' decisions or keeping commitments, and other missionaries. So I shouldn't dwell on or worry about what others do. I should just focus on what I can do. I often try to manipulate situations and try to get things to go my way, and in doing so I try to force other people to think like I do or see things like I do. But instead I need to focus in internal things and what I can control and not worry about external things like other people or situations. 

Well, I hope you all have a great week! Pray super hard for my Visa to come ;) haha love you guys! 

Alma 36:3

Com amor,

Elder Kyle 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