First Thanksgiving Away From Home! - November 27, 2017

Well... Thanksgiving was a little different this year... It started out with a "brown out" or black out...  early in the morning. That means that we didn't have fans to keep us from melting from Filipino heat. So translation, we were cooking this year instead of the turkeys. To try to escape the heat we ate lunch in the backyard which was still really hot and had a lot more bugs. Lunch was rice with canned sardines and corned beef. Then our stove broke (don't worry I fixed it) We then ran out of clean water and didn't have time to buy more (don't worry we have a filter it is just insanely slow) And then we ran out of lesson one pamphlets... But that's okay, we saw miracles on Thanksgiving. We extended 4 IBD's (investigator Baptismal date) and our investigators accepted them! That is something I did learn on my first Thanksgiving away from home, you have to focus on the things that really matter. So many things went wrong on Thanksgiving, even our bus ride back home was a disaster, we waited for an hour watching 7 buses pass us until we packed onto the 8th, but after all was said and done I am grateful for that day. We worked hard, did the Lord's work, and did our best to bring people closer to our Savior. I guess that's the moral of my story, pick the things that matter and that's where you can be happy. 

I love you all and hope to have some exciting stories to tell next week! Take care this week and focus on the things that matter! (Loved ones, Friends, Our Savior)

-Elder Payne 

A decorated bamboo stick

City streets- a power pole in the middle of the road

Christmas decorations

My desk area

Baptism and Kids!!! - November 20, 2017

We had a baptism this week! It was great! We would normally go to the chapel in Agoo because we have a font there and not one at our meeting house in Tubao but... there were activities going on at the Chapel in Agoo so our Branch President told us to just go to the river! Haha I was so excited! It was dope! There was a carabao just taking a bath next to us as we had the baptism. We were right by a dam so there were a ton of kids playing in the water. The water was way warm compared to river water back home! The baptism was wonderful! I feel so blessed that the lord would trust me enough to be apart of that sacred ordinance! This is a beautiful work and it is so amazing to be able to be apart of it! 

Soooooooooooooooo I learned a magic trick from Elder Manarang that I've been showing to the little kids here. They absolutely love it! From now on we will just be walking down the street and a ton of kids will run up yelling "Magic Magic". And here in the Philippines it's not very hard to spot out the puti (white) guy... But that's okay, I love these kids here!!! They like to run up, hold your hand, jump on you, touch your arm. It honestly makes my day to find a group of kids like this! 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Stay safe and put your faith in Christ!!! Helaman 5:12

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

-Elder Payne

Elder Payne was asked the differences between the future missionary he was in June 2017 before he left for his mission as compared to who he is now, 5 months later.  Here is his response:

The differences between the old Elder Payne and the 5 months in Elder Payne...

I know what true poverty is like. I've seen families who have bamboo homes, bamboo tables, dirt floors, and their whole living is rice. I have seen changes in people's lives. I understand in a new sense that there is true change in people's lives as they accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have learned the true meaning of working hard, halimbawa (example) We study for three hours in the morning and then after that work 7+ hours a day. Every Day. I have experienced frustration with difficulties in speaking/ understanding people. Before my mission I couldn't comprehend the difficulties I've already faced. I miss things I never thought I would miss before. This is a third world country in every sense of the word. I have prayed harder than I have ever prayed before. I have felt God's love more powerfully than I have ever felt it before. My testimony is tested every day and continues to grow everyday. My patience has been tested like it never has been before. I now know why people say this was the hardest two years of their life. I get it and I haven't even reached 6 months yet. But time works weird on missions. its definitely different. This is hard, but worth it!

Candy delivered in packages sent from home

Elders from his "batch" of missionaries that arrived in Baguio in August 2017: Elder M. and Elder H.

Glass Bottle of Gatorade

Most Vibrant Rainbow I've Ever Seen

Elder T. and Elder Payne

First Week Out of Training! - November 13, 2017

Sooooo... this was my first week out of training. It was hard to say goodbye to Elder Manarang, I love that guy! I got a new comp last week and his name is Elder T.. He is from Kiribati and is way nice. He is a hard worker and his faith is off the charts! We get along really well. The only problem is there is a bit of a language barrier... he doesn't really speak English. It's a little difficult to communicate at times because our common language is both a foreign language for us.  We are the only ones at our house so I don't really speak English during the week anymore... Except (by no small miracle) we were able to find a lady who used to teach English and wants to hear the lessons in English! It is so liberating to be able to speak what comes on my mind. haha count your blessings, even just being able to speak to people is a blessing! 

Elder T. and I were able to get some really good work in this week! Thankfully Elder Manarang pushed me to lead the area in my last couple weeks of training so I am somewhat comfortable leading our area. I am far from perfect but we made some large strides in the work in Tubao this week so I am grateful for that! 

We visited a family earlier this week. The dad's cousin came in to join us just as we were asking the family how they were doing and stuff like that. The cousin was so drunk! He kept trying to talk to us but his cousin convinced him that we only speak english and don't understand Tagalog or Ilokano but he was trying so hard to talk to us! He was drunk on top of that and it was just hilarious. He was using all sorts of crazy drunken hand gestures and couldn't stop laughing.  It was really funny but it is kind of sad to see a full grown man that is reduced to acting like a child. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I encourage you all to look for opportunities to serve one another. Something small, make someone smile, open a door for someone. This world needs more light!

love you all,

Elder Payne

Elder Manarang and Elder Payne - Time for Transfers 

Harvesting Rice, Digging Graves, and Transfers - November 6, 2017

So uh, what a week! To start out I had exchanges on Tuesday. For transfers one missionary goes into the other missionary's area and stays the night. So I had transfers with Elder Fielding and he is way dope but he is a transfer below me so in other words we both don't really know Tagalog... So, he came into my area and I had to lead him. It was the blind leading the blind haha. We were two Americans both in training alone in our area.  We don't have anyone else in our apartment so we were literally all alone! But we had a great experience! We were able to work hard and find some promising potential investigators.

We harvested rice on Wednesday! It was way fun and pretty hard work! You go barefoot and just jump into the rice field. The way to harvest the rice is with these curved knives that just saw right threw the stocks of rice. You stack them up in piles and then after a couple of days they beat the rice out of the stocks and set it onto the road to dry. After we were done cutting the rice we got to ride the guys carabao! I had to get an Aklat ni Mormon and hold it like a picture my MTC teacher Brother West took on his mission! So shout out to Brother West for the picture! It wasn't as good as brother West's picture but I did my best! 

The day after we harvest rice for like six hours, we dug a grave for the dad of a man in our ward.  We were digging it with some other guys who were just speaking mad Ilokano the whole time, didn't understand a word haha They marked out the dimensions of the grave and then when we made it like six feet deep with only 2 metal picks and two shovels. It was kind of interesting when we hit another coffin about 4 feet down... awkward. When we hit the coffin we just made the grave like two feet longer on the other end. Some problem solving right there!

Last thing... Transfers this week and Elder Manarang is transferring. :( I am now out of training and am going to lead my area this next transfer! I'm way nervous but excited too! I just can't believe I'm already out of my training! I felt like it was yesterday I jumped on a bus with my trainer with all my bags and everything! time flies, even when it's hard... time flies!

Love you all and take care this week! 

-Elder Payne

That's where we harvested rice. We did that whole field and another one right beside it!

My feet after harvesting rice

I rode a carabao (water buffalo native to the Philippines) and held the Book of Mormon like I was marching into war! Brother West (one of  our MTC instructors) showed us a picture from his mission just like this so i had to copy him of course!

This is Sister O.  She is a super nice sister I met at a musical devotional on Saturday.

We saw these guys driving this thing across the river. If you look close the handle is a welded-on bike handlebar and the seat is literally just a metal frame... But it has a nice head rest haha.  Ingenious!  

Our Church Building

Leading- October 30, 2017

This week has been fun but pretty stressful! My trainer has had me lead everything from lessons to planning sessions and everything in between! He always has my back on everything still but I've been in charge of what we are going to teach, teaching, finding, planning our days, etc... It's been difficult and at times frustrating but I have already learned a ton! I find it's a lot like the gospel in general, things are hard at times but that is when we grow the most. Not because it is easy but because we are pushing ourselves to be better. This is a lesson I will take with me outside of my mission, never stop pushing yourself! Don't get stuck in your comfort zone, always be better! Thankfully we have been given ways and examples to constantly strive to be like. Our savior Jesus Christ is the prime example for us to follow. The way we can be more like him is through learning more about him by scripture study and attending church. I can testify that I have come much closer to my savior through my study in The Book of Mormon. I know that book is true, I know through it's teachings we can come to know our Savior and how we can become like him, it all just starts with opening the book. 

Love you all, stay safe and take care of each other! This world needs more love!!! 

Elder Payne

We found a pineapple plant while finding and it looked "dope" so we took a picture!

 I thought it was a cool rain-foresty kind of picture while we were proselyting.

Ice cream on a hot day

We went to a family's house and while I was there one of the girls needed help with her math homework so I helped her. I think that picture is funny because I look like a total dad, haha.

I got a little bored when Elder Manarang was sick and i just had to sit around sooooo I found monopoly and played a game against my brother Christian (who wasn't actually there).  Sorry, Christian. I won ;) 

A bridge we found while we were out in our area

That's some fruit someone gave to us.  We were way excited to eat them and we opened them to find like no fruit! haha

That's a jeepney that decided to just drive straight through the river!