I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

Well, I'm in a bit of a state of shock right now. I got a call from the zone leaders last night that I would be transferring. I have only been here in San Juan for a transfer so it definitely came as a surprise. It's interesting, even though I'm still new to this area I feel like it has quickly grown close to my heart. I have absolutely loved my time here. In all of my last areas I have felt ready to be transferred but this one is different. I really want to just stay in San Juan. This place is amazing and I'm sad to go but I know God has a plan. I will be transferring to Agoo zone as a zone leader. I'm nervous but I'm excited for the lessons which are waiting for me. 

In other news, we did some SWEET fishing this morning! We went on a morning jog to the beach to find a group of people fishing with a MASSIVE net. It was honestly at least  half a mile long. They were pulling it in and we decided we would help them. It took about and hour and a half but... we did it! It was a super fun experience. It was hard work playing tug of war with the ocean... haha but it was amazing to see how happy these people were as we worked in the hot sun! As we finally pulled in our catch we found there was quite a small amount that we actually caught... but these people still gave us plenty of fish in gratitude for our help. It made it that much harder to accept that I am leaving this place. I love San Juan! It was really fun and really humbling as well. 

I love you all and hope you have the best week ever! God loves you and he has a plan, it's up to us if we follow it ;) 

Love,

Elder Payne 

Family Week!

We had family this week in the San Juan 2 ward! It was SO fun!!! Tons of games, food, talents by families, and all sorts of stuff! We had a blast there with the amazing members here! I honestly love the members here so much! The bishop's family performed a song with their kids and it was so cute with their little kids (ages 4 and 6) just singing with all their hearts! It was pure smiles and fun. I feel bad cause I didn't invite my family... sorry guys, it was short notice ;) next year for sure ;) But it was just a great activity to show the JOY of families. I loved it.

So cool thing that happens here on 5th Sundays in San Juan ward... it's a primary program. Every 5th Sunday! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than just a little excited. Primary programs are my favorite! SO many cute kids waving to their families, messing with their friends, and belting out church songs with all their might! It is honestly so fun. Kids are the best. It was so precious as they started singing Gethsemane. Super powerful and super sweet. 

Life is good! Learning a tons and giving the Philippines my all! Of course I still miss you all tons. You stay in my thoughts and prayers always. Take care of yourselves and I'll see you all again before you know it!!! 

Love,

Elder Payne

San Juan Ward 2

I really don't have any ideas for a title for this email, please forgive me haha. This week wasn't too wild. There has been a lot of people working in their fields to recover from the typhoon. A lot of rice was destroyed which is sort of a big deal here in the Philippines where breakfast, lunch, and dinner are centered on rice... But the people in my area are still always so optimistic and happy. Filipinos are truly an incredible people. 

We were able to have a zone conference with President Bangal this week. He told us how blessed we were to be in a tropical country where our immune systems could grow... Sorry, I've got an up on you guys for the next time there's a dengue out break in America... haha just kidding. President is right, there are countless blessings coming from the Lord in a variety of ways and that is definitely one of them! I love President!

Sorry, that's probably a wrap for the week. It wasn't too interesting... my bad, I'll find some adventures this week! Love you all and please enjoy some pictures!

Love,

Elder Payne 

Typhoon Week!

This was an interesting week. Even though the bagyo caused some problems in the work we were able to do some really great work. First we were able to find a family with the help of Elder S. and Elder D.. They are a less active family who really wants to come to church again. They have children varying from ages 9-16 who would like to be baptized. It was a huge miracle and I am very hopeful/excited to help them progress towards baptism. We were also visiting an investigator family and had a powerful lesson where the spirit was so strong. They agreed to listen more and follow our commitments. We fasted this last Sunday that they would receive the answer of the truthfulness of our message. I am hopeful that they will come to that knowledge. 

The typhoon that we experienced was pretty strong. We had really strong wind and rain but it only lasted about a day. We were safe and the worst that happened was we lost power. It was impressive to see the strength of the storm. It was an exciting time as everyone was preparing for the storm and a relief as it passed. We continued to receive texts from the government concerning updates about it. It felt good to "be in the loop" lol. 

This morning we went on a run to the beach. The waves are still pretty strong which is fun to see! We built a sand castle as well which I really enjoyed doing... haha sorry, I forgot my camera today but i'll send pics next week! Love you all tons! Till next week again!

Love,

Elder Payne

Week 2 in San Juan!

Hello family and friends! First of all I would like to thank you very much for all the birthday wishes! It blows my mind that this will be my 2 and last birthday in the mission field. Time goes by sooo fast! On that topic as well, I can't wait to celebrate # 21 with all of you guys!!! 

Anyways, today was a fun week! We were able to find some truly incredible people and have some great experiences! My favorite was probably one that was at the house of our new investigators. Here's the story.  We were walking trying to find a name listed on our ward directory when we walked past a house with a lady and her daughter in the front. We originally walked by but as we passed it I felt we needed to talk to her. We started a conversation and then her husband came out. Her husband, Chris, is a spiritually/ religiously minded person. They agreed to hear a message about Jesus Christ. We were able to share the first vision to them which led to a great discussion about God's love and continued revelation from him. At the end of our lesson they kept saying how good of a feeling they got from our message. They referred to as if being "refreshed" or "Revived". They were a great family and I felt so blessed to share with them! 

Funny story... We were invited to a lunch on Friday which we happily attended. As we showed up at the appropriate time we found a group of people which were listening to one of the members of our ward tell a story. A strange story about some magic juice he bought off of a taxi driver that ended up saving his mom when she was sick. (I probably wouldn't take weird juice) But apparently that saved his mom's life. I thought "this is a weird lunch" and then another "speaker" got up and started a total sales pitch about this magic juice. As he started talking I realized what was going on... we were at a seminar selling a magic juice called "Green Barley"... Ya, that was not the lunch we were expecting... but we did get fed so I can't complain haha 

Hope everyone has a great week! Love you all always!

love,

Elder Payne

Busy Week!

Well transfers were this week! After 3 changes of where I was transferring and who my companion was... Until I ended up in San Juan! The surfing capital of the Philippines! (don't fact check me on that, I just trust the locals) It is a super cool area. The members here are amazing and church was super fun! I've been here for about three days now but I already feel close to the members! There is a catch however.... I'm training again! I'm with Elder W. from Utah! He is straight out of the MTC! In other words... we are sorta lost here cause we both just got here this week haha but it's fine. We can get back to the house at night (most of the times) so we are in good shape!

I'm excited to get to work here in San Juan and I know that God will guide us through our days here. It will be challenging but it will also give us a chance to really see God's hand out here. I'm excited! There are going to be a lot of good things happening here in San Juan I can tell you that!

Well, not a super exciting email this week but hope you enjoy a few pics! Love you tons!!! 

-Elder Payne 

          

  As this is a public blog, we've covered the faces of the children to protect their privacy.  

Transfers!

Well, looks like my time here in Santa Maria is far spent! I can't believe that it has already been three transfers here. I feel like I just got here and at the same time I feel like I have been here for an eternity! This has NOT been the easiest area but I have seen blessings like I have never seen before! I was able to witness 4 baptisms, I have met some of my favorite members thus far in my mission, I have been in a great district with some amazing missionaries. I guess the Lord saw fit for me to get me to my 4th area! The catch is... I'm training again and I'll be in a threesome... again so that will have it's blessings and challenges! But I'm excited. 

We had some pretty strong rain this week. A lot of people got flooded and it got to the point where church was canceled on Sunday. That's too bad, I would have liked to see a lot of the members here for the last time in a while. But I did weasel my way out of having to give another talk here so blessings were involved ;) Besides that, not a ton happened. Just another week in the Philippines! 

Well love you all tons but you already know that ;) Take care always and make someone smile this week. It's the best :) 

Love,

Elder Payne