WEEK #45

Hey everyone!

I don't have a ton of time today so this letter will be a little short! Sorry!

But this week has been pretty good. We didn't have any baptisms, our family didn't come to church because they had to work and take care of kids. But they are still super interested and I know they will get baptized. 

Oh also BIG NEWS! We got our first male investigator! His name is Junior, he is 14 and hes waycool. He loves to play soccer so we will be playing soccer with him this evening. All of the people we have been teaching have practically been women and girls so it is really great to get a male investigator. We had some changes in the mission a while back, any investigator under 16 has to attend church 3 times before getting baptized. This is really hard for some people but its all good, it is just a little harder to baptize now. But hopefully he will come next Sunday to church! We got a lot of new investigators and taught a lot of lessons this week but we just need our investigators to keep commitments and come to church!

Oh also I had a pretty embarrassing moment this week... So in Portuguese there are two words that are really similar: Peito (chest) and Peido (fart). So we were in a lesson and I was explaining that when the Holy Ghost testifies to you what is true, most people describe the feeling as a warm feeling or a burning feeling in the chest. HOWEVER, I confused the word Peito with Peido, and so what I said was most people feel a burning feeling in their fart! Haha I didn't understand why they were laughing at first but then they told me and then i explained it right! It was super funny

Anyways, things are going really good, we will be working hard this week to try to set some baptismal dates! its about time we have some baptisms here! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Falou!

Love,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #44

Beleza!

Esta semana passado fui muito loco! Well its been really hot here, and it has rained every day. And when it rains here, it POURS! The streets turn into rivers. its pretty crazy. But it has been a really really good week for us! 

We have been teaching a lot of people and we had some of our investigators come to church in Sunday! It was awesome. So we have been teaching a family that lives in our area, Auvira and her granddaughter Jessica. they all live together and Jessica has 3 little girls all under the age of 3. Anyways, we had arranged for a ride to pick them up on Sunday with us. The plan was he was to pick us up first, then swing by our investigators house to pick them up before church. But he never showed and he wouldn't answer his phone, so it was kinda crazy, because we didn't have our investigators phone number. so we were really worried that things would turn out really bad. After like half an hour of waiting for the guy to pick us up (church had already started by this time) we called a taxi, which took another 20 minutes to come get us. But we were able to pick up our investigators and all  7 of us were able to cram into the taxi. We got to the church an hour late, but our investigators said they loved it!  Luckily Sacrament meeting is the last hour of church, so They were able to go to gospel principles class and sacrament meeting. Also, we went to visit them later Sunday evening to talk to them about baptism, and Jessica told us something crazy. She said that about a month ago she had a dream that two men who weren´t from Brazil came to her house to talk to her about God and Jesus. Then she said that she thinks it was a sign that this is the true church, because she said the exact same thing she dreamed about came true in real life. It is so crazy to hear that! I am very excited for this family, Auvira´s husband passed away about 2 months ago, and she is really interested in learning about eternal families and temple work. They are on date to be baptized this Saturday so hopefully things will work out! We also had another investigator at church named Erica, she has almost 12 years and she is really cool.

Unfortunately, Sonaira wasn't able to attend church. Her mom wont let her be baptized or come to church anymore until she is 18 and has responsibility. it is suuuuper frustrating because she knows the church is true and she wants to be baptized. But we will keep working and praying that things will work out with her!

We have worked really hard this transfer and we are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors here in Ponta Porã. we have taught a lot of lessons and talked to lots of people so I'm really excited for this area! We have a great ward and the people here are awesome to help us out with missionary work. They feed us really well too! ;)

This week was kinda strange as far as missionary work goes, we met some weird people and had some weird experiences. But we had some miracles as well. Normally the rain hinders the work really bad, but we have been trying to use the rain to our advantage. So we start walking when it looks like its about to rain, and once it starts raining we hurry and run to a persons house and ask to stand under their cabana and wait for the rain to stop. And while we are waiting we talk with the people and we have taught a few lessons that way. Its been pretty fun!

Oh also, me and elder Vecchio play a game when we are out making contacts with people. We choose 3 words that the other person has to say in the next contact. So for example, Elder Vecchio would choose the words Watch, Shoes, and Tree, and I would have to fit those words in the next conversation I have with somebody. Its tough to fit random words in a conversation sometimes haha but people here are really chill and they still let us talk to them about religion haha.

We played American Football as a zone today, it was awesome! We had the whole zone there plus like 6 nonmembers, it was pretty crazy. Not everybody here knows the rules to American football, so it was pretty funny to watch what some people did! but we taught everybody and it was really fun.

Oh also, we will be moving into a new house at the beginning of next month! The house we live in right now is pretty small and we have 4 missionaries living there. it only has one bedroom and bathroom so it has been pretty hectic. But our new house is pretty sweet, it has 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms and a Churrascoria so I'm really excited! 

My Portuguese is coming along better, I am understand a lot more now and I can speak better, but it is still hard sometimes. I just have to keep studying every day. But the whole language-learning process is really weird! I pretty much think in Portuguese throughout the day and some of my dreams are in Portuguese. Its really weird when I talk to other Americans in English, I feel really weird when I talk in English, like I am pronouncing things wrong. also sentences are structured differently in Latin languages, so when I speak English I feel like it just comes out really weird! haha but its all good.

Tonight we have family home evening at a members house and hopefully our investigators will be able to make it. We will see.

Anyways, I love you all and I am so grateful for you! Have a great week, stay warm up there! ;)

Love you much,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #43

Eai!

I hope you all had a great week! This week was really hot and wet, it has rained every day but it has also been super hot. It usually rains really hard in the afternoon for about an hour, then it is calm and HOT. Oh, did I mention this week was hot? Well it was! haha. Its good though, I much prefer the heat over the cold!

Anyways, I have pretty much fallen in love with Brazil. Elder Vecchio and I worked our butts off this week. We taught a bunch of lessons and made contacts with tons of people, so this next week will be really busy as well. We met an amazing family that we taught twice this week. They didn't come to church, but they have prayed and felt that our message is true and that they need to be baptized! The only problem is that our area is kind of far from the center where the church is, and they have 3 little daughters, so they would need to take the bus to the church which is like7 kilometers away. so right now we just need to find a way for them to get to church, I am sure one of the members can help us with that by giving them a ride.

Sonaira didn't get baptized this week, her mom wouldn't let her, but we are making progress! she knows its true. It is heartbreaking and frustrating when you see the difference the Gospel makes in someone's life, but they cant take that next step of being baptized. But hopefully we will have a baptism soon. Its been kind of frustrating this month, we have worked really hard and taught a lot of people, but it is just hard for them to attend church because it is pretty far and church starts at 8:15 in the morning. We will keep working though :)

My Portuguese is getting better each day but as always its still pretty hard. But I've been practicing every day and my companion has really helped me. He gives me lots of opportunities to talk and to start conversations with people so I am learning a lot faster. I'm grateful to him, for pushing me to put myself outside of my comfort zone so that I can learn.

Haha its kinda funny, missionaries kind of go through phases of homesickness I guess you could say. Me and Elder Vecchio are in the same "phase" right now haha. He has one more month than me on the mission so we are about in the same spot, but we really missed our family and friends this week! I have been on my knees a lot and I am so grateful for the comfort that comes through prayer. Heavenly Father is always mindful of us and he knows us perfectly. HE is always willing to help us, but WE are the ones who need to pray and talk to him. 

I am very grateful for the members here in Ponta Porã as well! They have been very good to us, inviting us to Churrascos and giving us rides when they see us out walking in the heat or the rain. Some of them are suuuuper funny too haha. Brazil and Argentina have a big rivalry in Soccer, so lots of people crack jokes about Argentina and the States, its funny though. The people here are amazing. The thing I love about Brazil is that pretty much everyone is willing to talk to you and be your friend! We meet somebody one time and immediately I feel like they are my friend. Everyone is willing to just relax and talk and drink Tereré with us so its awesome :)

Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all the love and support. I love you guys! Try to stay warm up there! ;)

Falou,

Elder Kyle Payne

WEEK #41- KYLE'S BIRTHDAY!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great Christmas!!! Mine was awesome, I got to Skype my family. That was definitely the highlight of my week. But it was definitely the craziest Christmas of my life! So after dinner, we were walking to a members house, and we saw a dog get hit by a motorcycle. It was really gross. Then when we were walking home a couple hours later, my companion got hit by a car!!!! It was so crazy! The guy was drunk and he wasn't even watching where he was going. We were walking the side of the road, and all of the sudden I heard a car that sounded like it was really close, and I looked back and BOOM! Elder Vecchio got hit from behind. He is okay and isn't hurt too bad, he just has a bruised hip and a few scratches. It all happened really fast. Elder Vecchio is a champ though, he was in the hospital last week, and got hit by a car on Christmas, haha it's crazy. 

Anyways, it has been a great week. Our investigator didn't end up getting baptized but we are working on it. We worked hard this week and made tons of contacts, so we have like 15 new investigators to teach this week. We set a date with one of our investigators Sonaira, she is 14. She will get baptized for sure! She really really wants to join the church and she has a lot of friends in the church, but we just have to get her mom to let her. We will be praying and fasting for it to all work out. But Sonaira is such a great girl we are very excited for her! Her date is January 12 so we will work with her this week! :) 

Brazil is really crazy, I love it. It has been really hot this week and it has rained a lot. I don't care for the rain too much but its all good! I ate Capivara (capybara) the other day. If you don't know what Capivara is, it is pretty much a really big rodent that tastes like pork. I thought it was pork when they fed it to us, but I found out afterwards what I was actually eating. haha. What you don't know doesn't hurt you, right?!

Anyways, things are going really well here, Brazil is awesome, the people here are awesome, the food is awesome, I love it haha. The language is coming along  but it is still really frustrating at times. I'll get it down eventually!

Well all, I hope you have a wonderful new year!!! I love and miss you!

Falou,

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 #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

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