Week #25

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty crazy! We have had a lot of success the past couple weeks, things are really starting to pick up in Belgrade. The members here are AWESOME and they are a huge help to us. Good thing we're all on the same team :)

Kelly is still getting baptized this Saturday, we are so excited for him. He's setting a great example for his kids. We have a few other solid investigators as well, we will be teaching another guy within two weeks when he gets back from North Dakota. His wife is a member and they just got married, but he wants to get baptized so that they can be sealed in the Temple next year. Way cool. We will see how that turns out in a few weeks.

Transfers are next week, I can't believe it. Time is going by way too fast. It has been pretty rainy here, we've had some really cool lightning storms though.

We went on an awesome hike this morning. Montana is seriously so beautiful! I can't wait to come back and visit here after my mission.

I LOVE the people here. They're great. 

As usual, still no word on the Visa. There are still 3 of us from the MTC District still in Montana. One of them, Elder Jackson, is in my District right now so we see each other pretty often. So that's good.

Watchman said Brazil is just awesome and he said I will love it when i get down there. So we'll see! :) 

I can't really think of anything crazy that happened this week, it has been pretty routine I guess you could say. We have worked really hard.

We spoke in 2nd ward yesterday and it went really well, the members seem to trust us so that's good. We had 6 Less-active families come to church and 2 investigators. It's always great to see them walk in the door to the chapel :)

Anyways, things are going good here in Big Sky country. I hope you all have a great week! I love you very much. Keep the faith!

Elder Payne

Week #24

Hey everybody! 

This has been a pretty good week for Elder Greenwall and I, we see the Lord's hand every day. We have had some solid lessons with our investigators and things are going really well. We have been teaching an investigator named Kelly, he is doing awesome! He already accepted our invitation to be baptized so he is on track for next Saturday the 14th.

We had 3 other investigators come to church on Sunday, so that was awesome! We have been working hard with the ward to help the work move forward and help people feel welcome and missed. We are also working with a lot of Less-active families as well. Hopefully more will start coming to church again.

We met a lady named Kay, her daughter is a member but not very active, but we have been teaching them both lately and they are both doing great. They are reading the Book of Mormon. The only problem is that Kay is going out of town this whole week so we can't see her until next week. Oh well hopefully she will still progress when she gets back.

I can't believe it is already week 5 of the transfer! Time is going by too fast. I feel like there isn't enough time in the day to get everything done! My MTC companion (Elder Watchman) got his Visa and he left for Brazil yesterday, as well as Elder Bonaro from my MTC district and Sister Kimball. So half of us are still in the states! I can't believe it. Hopefully Visas start coming soon. The MTC district always has a pretty tight bond with each other because we spent a lot of time in the MTC together and became friends, and we came out at the same time so we all still keep in contact which is really cool. I email the missionaries in Brazil and learn more about what's going on down there, I can't wait to get there! it seems so cool.

But here in Montana, I'm seriously meeting the most amazing people. We do our best to help people in any way I can, but I feel like I'm the one being helped and uplifted. These people have touched my heart and I love so many people here. The members are awesome. So are the investigators. This week has been a little rough with some scary things happening at home and since I'm out of the loop I haven't really known what's going on, but I've received answers to my prayers as well as comfort. Heavenly Father really does watch out for us and takes care of us.

This week has also been pretty funny, apparently I have been sleep talking a lot lately, my companion tells me in the morning all the weird things I say, I guess I have been talking about graduating a lot? I don't remember a thing. Anyways, there are also a lot of crazy people that yell at us from their cars as they drive by, yelling things like "I love Jesus" or whatever. But one person yelled "Science and Satan!" at us from their car while we were riding bikes, and I just flipped around and started following them on my bike. I wanted to go talk to them because I was tired of getting yelled at by random people haha but anyways they finally pulled into a store and I walked up to the guy and said I'm sorry I think you tried to talk to me earlier but i didn't hear exactly what you said (I was kind of being a smart-alec) but the guy was really short and had long hair and was just like "uuuhh....ummmm.. yeah.... i was just kidding man... umm....." haha so I just told him we were LDS missionaries and asked if he believed in Science and Satan like he said, but he said no he was Catholic and I offered him a pamphlet but he said he didn't want it. We meet so many weird people.

Anyways, things are going good, the work is really starting to pick up here in Belgrade. It's awesome. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you later!

Love you much,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #5 Last week in MTC!

Hello everyone!

Wow this week has been crazy! None of our VISA's have come through except for 2, so we all got reassigned. I found out yesterday where I'm going..... Billings Montana! Haha it is going to be so cold! I have all short sleeve shirts because I packed for Brazil! And my suit is thin! Oh well everything will work out. I know the Lord will take care of me. I'm way excited for Montana! it's gonna be so fun to be able to serve in the states for a bit until my VISA comes. Hopefully it won't be too long though. And the craziest part is that I leave tomorrow at 4 a.m.! They give us like 36 hours to pack up everything and leave. Today is way stressful because we have so much to do before we leave. I'm excited though :) we fly out early tomorrow morning, so by tomorrow night I could be teaching real people! I can't wait. Most of the other Elders in my district are going to Montana too so that will be really fun.

I can't believe how fast the MTC has gone by. It's been a month and a half but it feels like a week. It will be hard to leave my district because we have all become best friends.

I don't have a ton of time today because I have so much to do, but I want to tell you all how much I love you and am grateful for the influence you have had on my life! I am so blessed to have such amazing family and friends.

I promise I will write more when I have more time, I just have to get a lot done. I know that God has a purpose for me specifically and that's why he called me to Billings. I can't wait to see how things turn out and actually teach the Gospel and spread the good word! I know that this gospel is true and that it blesses each and every one of us. I know that the Savior died for you, for me, and for every one of God's children. This week I studied a lot about the atonement again, and I learned new things. I know that Christ died for us individually, but I kind of pictured it as him suffering for our sins all at the same time. But Christ suffered for all of our sins, pains, sorrows, and other afflictions INDIVIDUALLY. He did it for YOU. The atonement wasn't infinite, it was intimate. Always remember what Christ did for you and be grateful for all that God has given you.

My challenge for you all this week is to share your testimony with someone! The best way to strengthen your testimony is to share it with others. Even if you don't think your testimony is very strong or significant, I can promise you that when you bear your testimony to someone with a sincere heart, the spirit will testify and touch people's hearts. I have seen it every day here at the MTC. I know it works :)

I love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon! I will let you know my mailing address once I get to the state of Montana baby! Haha.

Ate mais tarde! Tchau!

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #4

Hey Everyone!

Holy cow time is just flying! I can't believe it's P-Day again. This week just flew by. Well life at the MTC has pretty much been the same, but I had a couple way cool experiences. The coolest one is that on Tuesday night at the devotional, Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve came and spoke to us!!! It was so cool to hear his voice. We were on the third row so we were way close to him. He made eye contact with me a bunch of times :) haha. He spoke most of the time on prayer, and how important it is to keep that channel open with God. We NEED to communicate with him. He is waiting to pour out blessings on us, we just need to be obedient and talk to him. It was funny, because after he finished his talk we sang a hymn and a Sister missionary was going up to say the closing prayer, but elder Scott jumped out of his seat and told her to sit back down and he went back to the podium and spoke for another few minutes. It was cool though I've never seen an apostle do that. He said he felt prompted to speak more and that he felt like someone needed to hear his last message. That was definitely me! Haha. He gave all of us an Apostolic blessing, that was probably the coolest thing I've ever experienced! I've never felt the spirit so strong in my life. He promised that the burden of learning the language will be eased as we continually pray and work hard. I love the apostles!

I seriously can't explain how much I love learning about the gospel! We have been teaching a lot and 2 of our investigators committed to baptism! They aren't real investigators but still, we have been teaching them for weeks and we have been making progress, now finally we got them to baptism :) Baptism is only the beginning though. Tomorrow we have to teach a real investigator in one of our training exercises. I'm pretty nervous but I think we will do good. We are planning on just getting to know them and talking about the Restoration and a little about the Plan of Salvation, depending on who we teach.

  Also this week I have been learning a lot about Joseph Smith. I love Joseph and I'm so grateful for his sacrifice. He gave his life for the building up of the Kingdom of God. I encourage you all to watch the Joseph Smith restoration movie. I love it. We watched it in Portuguese on Sunday and amazingly I could understand almost everything they were saying! I can understand a lot of Portuguese it just takes me a little longer to put together sentences and build sentences. I'm getting better though. It really is awesome teaching in another language. Because even though our Portuguese isn't the best, the people we teach can still understand our message and feel the spirit. My favorite thing is bearing my testimony in Portuguese. I just let the spirit guide me as to what to say and it almost always goes along perfectly with what our investigators needed to hear at that time. Cool stuff.

Well none of us have gotten our VISA's yet, so we are most likely getting reassigned stateside until they get here. I will find out where my reassignment is next week. I'm excited, it will be cool to serve stateside and get the hang of missionary work in my own language. Everything will work out how it's supposed to.

Well everyone, I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for your love and support! My challenge for you this week is to take a few minutes, when it's quiet and there aren't any distractions, and say a prayer of gratitude to your Heavenly Father. Don't ask for anything this time. Only thank him for everything you have been blessed with. I promise you will feel closer to Him and you will be more grateful for everything you have. I did it, and I can tell you that we all have so much to be grateful for. He has given us so much.

I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful for the influence it has on my life. We can experience true and lasting happiness if we strive to be obedient and live by the standards of the church. The Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. I know it. Every time I have a question or am worried about something, I say a prayer and read the Book of Mormon. I receive my answer EVERY time. Guys, the gospel is true. God loves each and every one of us and wants us to talk to him.

Well I'm out of time but I hope to hear from you all soon! Ate mais tarde!

Love, Elder Kyle Payne

  "Olhos fitos na Gloria de Deus" (Eyes fixed on the Glory of God)

WEEK #3

Hey everyone!

I wanted to thank you all for the letters and packages! It's so nice to get mail. I have gotten the half way care package and the salsa! Thank you. It's so crazy to think that I'm over the hump and only have 2 and a half weeks left here! Time at the MTC is so weird. It feels like P-Day was just yesterday. The weeks are flying.

Well this week has been pretty normal, except for General Conference! I hope you all enjoyed watching conference because I sure did! I learned more from this conference than I ever have in my life. It seemed like almost every talk had a message for me and I took a lot out of them. I especially liked President Uchtdorf's talk in Priesthood session. He is such a powerful speaker. They were all good though. I loved when President Monson told the story about him setting the grass on fire! It is funny to hear the prophet tell stories like that because it makes you realize he is a real person and we can just connect with him more. I love the apostles.

We have been working like mad and studying the language constantly! We wake up around 6:00 every morning so we can avoid the shower line haha. We have breakfast at 7 then we head straight to class for 3 hours. I'm getting used to it though. One cool thing is that one of the speakers at a devotional on Tuesday said that here at the MTC and on your mission, you are literally doing more than your body can physically and mentally handle for such a long period of time. But Heavenly Father strengthens his missionaries so that they can accomplish more than they ever could on their own. That's awesome.

My companion and I have  been working on two investigators (they are just members acting the part). One is named Edgar, he's from Angola. He is so difficult to work with because he doesn't follow through with his commitments because he's so busy with school and work. But he said he wants to know more and keep learning about Jesus Christ. We are praying that we will receive some revelation as to what he needs so that we know what to teach him. He doesn't talk too much. Our other investigator is named Maria, she is awesome! Her husband and her kids are members of the church but she isn't. She has trouble with smoking and alcohol. But she said she wants to break her bad habits and make a change in her life. Perfect opportunity for us! haha. We have been teaching her about the Plan of Salvation, The Atonement of Jesus Christ, Repentance, and Baptism (all in Portuguese!) I was really nervous to teach her about the Word of Wisdom, because I didn't want to offend her. But what we felt like we should do is just ask her questions and tell her that we love her and are there to help her with anything. We want to help her come closer to Christ so that she can be happier. Then once she knew that she just completely opened up to us and told us, and now we are helping her. Even though she's not a "real" investigator, I still get super excited and want to help her so bad! We committed her to go to church on Sunday with her family and smoke less and less every day until this Saturday. Saturday will be her last cigarette (hopefully) We shared some great scriptures with her explaining that Heavenly Father promises to bless her if she keeps his commandments.

I got to host new missionaries coming into the MTC on Wednesday, that was really fun! I saw a few buddies from school and met new people. I hosted an elder coming all the way from New Zealand and he had THE coolest accent haha. It was fun to just show them the MTC and encourage them because they just left their families and are pretty overwhelmed, but they're all super excited and ready to get to work.

Some of the elders in our district have gotten sick, and I've been able to give them priesthood blessings. They have been really cool experiences. Can you believe how many missionaries are out in the field now? 65,000 full time missionaries and 20,000 more have their calls. I heard BYU is going to be using their student housing to house some of the missionaries in the next few months because they won't be able to fit here at the MTC. Crazy.

I'm praying super hard for my VISA to come! Only one person in our whole branch has gotten their VISA but they went through the San Francisco Consulate. Nobody from the L.A. consulate has gotten theirs yet. But everything will work out how it's supposed to :)

Well I don't have too much time I have to go finish laundry and get ready for the temple, but this week my challenge to all of you is to pick one talk from this General conference or any other general conference, and look for ways that it applies to you and how you can improve. It will only take 10 minutes, but I promise you that you will find something significant to you and you will be inspired. I know this gospel is true and I know that the power of the Priesthood is very real. God is our LOVING Heavenly Father and has blessed us so much. We all have so much to be thankful for. I know that the gospel blesses and changes lives. It has already changed my life.

I love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon!

Ate mais tarde! Tchaou!

-Elder Payne

WEEK #2

Boa Tarde Everyone!

I can't believe I've been here for over 2 weeks now. Time here is so weird! It really is as they say: The days are long but the weeks go by fast. Well, hopefully I'll be able to answer all of your questions! Life at the MTC is really good but really weird. I'm still getting used to all the rules haha. I like being productive and everything but here there is literally no time for anything! Every minute of our day is planned out. It's a blessing though because that way we don't waste any time and we accomplish a lot. We have Elders in my room, which is typical. Some Elders have to have 6 people in a room. Luckily I don't. Everyone is waiting for our Visas. It's like a miracle when someone gets a visa to Brazil. i think there has only been one person in my whole branch who has gotten theirs. I will probably be reassigned stateside for a month or two until it comes, but that's okay I will go wherever the Lord wants me to go. My Portuguese is coming along pretty well! The thing I'm working on right now is teaching the lessons more in depth and asking questions. We teach several investigators and it's really important to ask them questions instead of just saying your memorized lines. Some of the investigators talk waaayyyy fast but I can understand most of what they say. The worst is when they ask me a question and I understand it, and I know the answer, but I just don't know how to say it in Portuguese. It's really frustrating. So when that happens I just say I'll find the answer and let them know next time. Learning a language is so hard! Haha now I'm starting to envy the English Speaking missionaries. Just kidding :)

Today is my P-Day, it's so nice. We don't have class or anything until after dinner. So it's up to us what we do throughout the day in our free time. I really think you have more free time in prison than at the MTC! Haha. I always joke around that this place is basically a prison but everyone is happy! Somehow I'm in Happy Prison. Just kidding it's not that bad :) I have to teach a lesson to a new investigator tonight and we haven't prepared very well. I'm nervous! Haha. My District went to the temple today and it was such a cool experience. Every time I go back I learn something new.

Well I'm pretty much best friends with the Elders in my district we have a ton of fun! I'm meeting people from all over the world it's awesome. Also, Easter was awesome here! We got to here from a member of the Seventy and my district and I were on like the third row. I went up afterwards and shook his hand and talked to him for a bit. It was really cool. I learned so much about Jesus Christ and gained a deeper love for him and his atonement.

Oh also they pretty much give the worst haircuts here. The guy who cut my hair was bald though, so he was probably just jealous and took his frustration out on my hair. Just kidding it's not that bad. But it kind of is. haha

What has really hit me this week has been service! There are so many opportunities to serve others we just have to notice them. This week almost every member of my district has gotten sick, germs spread like crazy here. First it was my roommate Elder Lott then his companion Elder Cloud, then I got it then the elders in our district in the dorm next to us all got it. It was like a flu/sore throat/cough. Super fun. But we all gave each other blessings and we are doing good now.

I'm so excited for General Conference tomorrow and Sunday. It will be weird not to be at home to watch it with family and grazing on food all day haha. But there is a lot of support here at the MTC so it will be really good. I need to start writing down everyone's questions when you write me so that I can answer them. I don't have a ton of time to email so I am typing like a mad man haha. But I will send pictures as soon as I figure out how to do it on these dumb computers haha.

I just want to leave you with my testimony (you better get used to this) :)
I know that this gospel has been fully restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that God sent his son, our brother Jesus Christ to atone for our sins. Through him we can be clean from sin and return to live with our heavenly father again. I know that the Book of Mormon contains everything we need to continue to progress and receive inspiration. Heavenly Father loves us so much and wants to bless us. He will bless us more than we can imagine as long as we are faithful and are doing our best. I love this gospel and can't wait to share it with others and help them come closer to Christ and their Heavenly Father.

I will also leave you with my simple testimony in Portuguese:
Eu se que O Evengelho de Jesus Cristo e verdaderio e fortelece as familias. Eu se que O Livro de Mormon contem a plentitude du Evangeho, e as palavras de Deus e as Profetas. Atreves a Expiasao de Jesus Cristo, nos podemos receber bencaos e vida eterna. Dizo estas coisas em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem.

My challenge to all of you this week is to look for ways to serve one another. Turn your thoughts and efforts OUTWORD rather than INWARD. I promise you will gain a greater appreciation for each other and it will bring you much joy. I love each and every one of you so much and I'm so grateful for your love and support. Thank you for the letters and care packages! I love hearing from you.

Ate Mais! (Until Later!)

Love,
Elder Payne

Kyle's MTC District

WEEK #1

Oi me familia e amigos!

AAHH where do I even begin?! This past week and a half has been absolutely crazy. The MTC is a really cool place! The spirit here is really strong and everyone here really works together to make it a pleasant place to be. I love it!

Well, right when I got dropped off here they took me in to get my name tags and a bunch of books then I headed straight to class! The teacher didn't speak any English to us. I met my companion there, his name is Elder Watchman. He's from Holladay, UT (Salt lake). He's awesome and we get along great. We have a lot in common! My district is awesome. The guys are hard working and fun to be around. We also have 4 sisters in our district. They are awesome as well! It's funny how sister missionaries can bring a totally different spirit and light into our district. Sometimes the elders get rowdy but they keep us in line :) I am having a ton of fun here and enjoying it a lot.

This week has been without a doubt the hardest week of my entire life. It has been an emotional roller coaster haha. We are seriously so busy! When we aren't in class we are studying or teaching. And when we aren't studying or teaching we are eating. My typical day consists of waking up, getting ready, eating, going to class, studying, eating, teaching, more studying, more class, eating, more studying, and either class or a devotional of some sort. We are all so tired all the time! Today is finally our P-Day, so we are doing laundry and cleaning our room, going to the temple and probably sleeping haha. It's weird being so close to home but being on my mission! I'm only like 20 min. away from everyone. But it's all good. I can't decide if this week has gone by fast or slow! Every day seems way long but the week kind of went by fast. Time here is weird. Also I'm already losing my nice tan haha because we are inside so much.

Well, on our third day here (Friday) i had to teach my very first investigator.... IN PORTUGUESE! Holy cow that was a train wreck. Basically all we could say was Oi, como vai? Tudo bem? (Hi, how are you? Everything's good?) We were able to use brief notes to teach the lesson but they weren't very helpful because we can't just read our script and leave. We needed to make it sincere and maintain eye contact so that the spirit was present. It was rough haha. The investigator is named Crispim, he is from Portugal. (He is a member of the church just acting for us). We taught him every day and now he is one of our teachers, so he gives us helpful feedback and helps us improve our teaching.

Portuguese is so hard! Haha. It definitely helps that I took a few years of Spanish, but that also messes me up because you pronounce things way differently in Portuguese. It's more like French, Spanish, and Italian combined. J's sound like the S in measure, R's sound like an H, if a word ends in "te" you say "chee". Also if there is an ao in a word you say it with the back of your tongue, sort of nasally. It's hard to explain but you'll hear me speak it in 2 years :) I can pray and hold a simple conversation in Portuguese now! I can also bear my testimony. Even though it is simple, the Spirit can still be there and touch people's hearts even if my words can't. That's what's awesome about teaching with the Spirit. All we have to do is do our best and study each day, and the Spirit will bear witness to the investigators. We just have to open our mouths, and the Lord will take care of the rest.

Well Mom i know you're worried about my knee, but I'm totally fine don't worry about it. I just hurt it the other day playing basketball and also jumping down from the top bunk to turn off the alarm in the morning. It was really weird my knee just popped and my whole leg was burning, so we went and got it checked out and they thought I might have torn my meniscus. I had to have crutches for a few days just in case so that if there was something torn it wouldn't get worse. The other elders in my district gave me a blessing and as a district we fasted for our Visas to come and to learn Portuguese and for my leg to be alright. And nothing ended up being torn and all is well! The doctor said i should take it easy and to not play sports for a few weeks.... Yeah that's not gonna happen haha! You know me. I can't just sit there and watch people having fun, i have to be involved. I played basketball yesterday with a little knee brace for support and after taking the pain medication and it did fine.

I can't thank you all enough for sending me letters and care packages! Grandma Cathy i did get the salsa and it was soooo delicious! Everyone in my district was like "dude can i have one more? one more? can i try some more?" haha. Thanks everyone for the cookies and candy and snacks. Especially your letters. It's crazy how much those letters and packages mean to me. They totally make my day. Whenever I have felt really discouraged throughout the day, my spirits are lifted when we go get the mail and i have letters waiting for me. It's awesome to know that I have my family and friends to support me.

Guys, being here at the MTC it has really hit me how much influence our actions and words affect others around us. If someone is negative they can really bring others down as well by how they treat them. It works the other way too. If we are all encouraging one another and being nice, we can uplift each other make each other feel better. Don't take for granted the people in your life. We are all so blessed to have each other to strengthen each other and become closer to our Heavenly Father. My challenge to all of you this week is to treat others as Christ would. Tell the people you care about that you love them, and do everything you can to serve them. You never know what they are going through or what kind of day they're having. I have had my all time Highs and my all time Lows here, but it is amazing how my attitude can change when someone in my district will say, hey, I love you and am here if you need anything. We can all make a difference in each other's lives by trying to be more Christ-like and treating one another as he would.

I will try to write more individual letters to you all today when i have time, and I'm sorry if i can't! I'll do my best. Please keep sending letters and packages, they help more than you know. I want to leave you with my testimony. I know without a doubt that this gospel is true. It is simple and powerful.It can bring more happiness and joy than we could ever imagine. All we have to do is be obedient and continually strive to improve, and the lord will bless us. I know that the Book of Mormon really is the word of god, and the principles and doctrine it contains are true. I know that families can be together forever and that we can all return to live with our families and with our Father in Heaven one day. I know that my brother Jesus died for me and atoned for my sins, so that I wouldn't have to. I love this gospel so much and I'm so excited to share what I know with the people of Brazil! I love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Elder Payne

A LETTER!

Yippee!!  We got a letter!!

We  received a hand written letter today in the mail!  Kyle let us know he is "still alive" and "the MTC is an awesome place!"  The first day he got his name tag, put his stuff in his room, and went right to class.  He is definitely staying busy.  His companion is Elder Watchman, from Holladay, Utah.  He said they have a lot in common.

Kyle's P-Day is on Fridays, and he will email us a letter then.  I will then post it to the blog.  He didn't have one yesterday, so the first letter will be this coming Friday, March 29th.  We are excited he is doing well and enjoying the MTC and we look forward to his email letters on Fridays!