Week 46 - June 22, 2013 - I love the Bus!

Crazy to think how fast time flies by!! Remember last year when we had those 25 gifts for mom and dad for their 25th anniversary?  That was so much fun! Man I miss you guys a ton!

Well this last week went by so fast!! It was just a crazy week!! So Monday we took a bus to Urapan to have divisions with them and I worked in their area with Elder Quinney. He is such a stud! Man I love that kid. We are definately going to be hanging out after the mish!!  On Tuesday we just practically did service ALL day!! It was pretty nuts!! 

We went to lunch with one of the older ladies that lives in his area and then she asked if we would help her cut down a couple branches on her tree in her backyard. We said yes, thinking it would be a small little tree. It ended up being like 40 feet tall. So we had to climb the tree and use this axe thing to chop off the branches - in our dress shirts and pants! It took like 3 hours! 

Then we went to go teach one of their investigators and she asked if we would help cut the vines that were growing on the side of her house. That ended up taking like another 2 hours. As we were cutting, Elder Quinney started cutting above the door of the house. He noticed there was a bird's nest tucked behind the vines and moved it a little bit. All of the sudeen we hear ¨plop, plop, plop.¨ As we looked at the ground, we saw three dead baby birds - we felt bad!  Then as we were collecting all the leaves in front of the house, the neighbors dog fell off the roof and was hanging by his leash!!  Don't worry, it was a harness, so he wasn't choking!  I took pictures of it haha it looked soooo funny!!!!

Then on Wednesday morning I treveled back to Morelia (my area) and then unpacked, packed, and left to Zamora!! I got to Zamora and worked with Elder Perez, the zone leader over there. He is a pretty funny dude! I had fun working with him. On Thursday, we had to travel like an hour and a half to do a baptismal interview for one of the district leaders. Then we traveled an hour and a half back to his area and had a couple more lessons.

On Friday morning, I came back from Zamora...ending my week with a total of 14.5 hours in a bus! Good thing I like traveling because I can catch up on my sleep!

Yesterday we had a few lessons in our area and it went really good. It's super weird because I work with my companion, Elder Morales, only 2 days a week!  But we are having another baptism tonight so we are excited about that. We have 4 elders in our ward and its a baptism for the other elders but the girl lives in our area! We are super pumped for them though because they have baptized 5 weeks in a row now. One of the Elders has 4 months in the mission and the other has 4 weeks! They are super happy so we just keep giving them our referrals because they are super hard workers!

This next week we have zone conferences all week so I will be traveling all week again. It should be fun because I think President will take us out to nice restaurants again! Last week President's daughter got back from her mission in San Francisco so he has just been super happy all week! I am pretty sure she will be doing some of the zone conference activities with us so it should be fun to talk to her and see how everything is going back in the Bay!

Well I am doing great and loving it out here! Time is going by so fast! I can't believe I will have 11 months done on Tuesday! I love you all so much and I am so thankful for all the support you guys give me! I am prayin for you in every prayer and have an amazing week!!

Love,

Elder Payne

Week 45 - June 15, 2013 - I'M SO TIRED

So Sunday morning we took a bus early to go to Guadalajara with all the missionaries that ended their 24 months and were headed back home. We got to the offices at about 2 o'clock and President did interviews with all the missionaries. It ended at about 6 and then we went to Presidents house to eat dinner and just talk about all their missionary stories and experiences. They all shared their testimony and President and Sister Camarillo ended with theirs. It was such an awesome experience and kinda made me glad that I still have time left in the mission because everyone was just super depressed haha!! We stayed with the assistants in Guadalajara and didn't get back to their house until 12:30am.

Monday morning we woke up at 4 to go to the airport to take the missionaries that were going home. Then we had to stay at the airport and do a bunch of stuff and wait for the new missionaries to arrive. They finally got in at 12:30. We took them back to Presidents house and had lunch with them and had a meeting on the expectations of the mission and all the rules and fun stuff like that. Then one of the other assistants (Elder Holmquist) and I went back to the airport to pick up the American missionaries. They came in at 4 and we did the same thing-took them back to Presidents house and ate dinner and gave them the same talk...but in english of course. We finally got done with all that stuff and had to plan a bunch of stuff for the next day...we didn't get to bed until 1 am!!

Tuesday morning we wake up at 5:30 to get ready for our big meeting with all the new missionaries and their trainers. President made me translate for him and it was awful hahaha!! I was forgetting so much english and everyone was laughing at me hahaha!! He told me that I needed to take it more serious, it got better after that! Then President assigned all the companions and we all headed back to our areas. We didn't get in until 10pm. We opened a bunch of areas out here in Michoacan and lots were for the sisters. So the stake President out here took us around taking materials to their houses all night. We had to take matresses and chairs and a few desks to some of the areas. We didn't finish until 1am and we hadn't eaten since noon. The stake president took us out to eat tacos and it was super good!! We finally got back to our house at 1:45am.

Wednesday morning we had to wake up at 6am to go on divisions with the zone leaders in Zamora. I worked with Elder De Los Santos. We left our house at 6:30 to take the bus to Zamora. We got their at 9 and then headed back to our area. JUST IMAGINE HOW TIRED I WAS!! The last thing I wanted to do was go and have lessons haha!! But we have to be strict and work our hardest with the zone leaders so that they can see our example and apply it in their areas. We finally ended divisions this morning. We got up at 5 to take the bus at 6 and we finally got back to our area at like 11 haha!!

So I think its safe to say that I have had the most tiring week of my mission so far!! It was a fun week but just super stressful and tiring. I am so exhausted and I am glad that the week is over haha!!

I love you guys and I hope all is well!! I wish I coiuld be there this summer to see all you guys and hang out and go on vacations but all of that will have to wait I guess haha!! Sounds like you have lots planned for the summer which is awesome. I just wish I could be there. I know that what I am doing is exactly what I need to be doing at this time. I am learning so much about myself and how I can be a better person for the future. I have had lots of trials but I am so thankful for every trial that I have because it helps me become the person that God wants me to be. Have an amazing week and I will talk to you soon!!!

Love,

Elder Payne

Week 44 - June 8, 2013 - Moved Again!

Well this week has been pretty good!! We got to work in our area all week so that was good to see some success again!! It's just tough because we are hardly in our area so we don't get to have many lessons. But it is awesome because we are having tons of success in our ward. We have 4 missionaries in our ward and we have a pretty good routine!! When Elder Morales and I are in our Area we just try and find as many people as we can...then when we have to travel, the other missionaries come and teach our investigators. We have 3 baptisms tonight so we are super excited about that!!

This last week we had divisions with a few of the zone leaders. On Monday I worked with one of the zone leaders in Morelia and then on Wednesday I went and worked with one of the zone leaders in Aeropuerto. It went well and I learned a lot. Hopefully I helped them learn some stuff too! I still feel kind of intimidated because I've only been out 10 months and I feel like all the zone leaders judge me!! But it's fun and I am working as hard as I can. It is definately a humbling experience.

We just found out the transfers 10 minutes ago. We have transfers on Monday and we had a bunch of changes this transfer. It is pretty cool to see what everyone is doing in the mission and where all my friends are going. We are going to send the email out to the zone leaders in an hour so that they can tell their zones tomorrow who is going where! 

Tomorrow morning we are traveling to Guadalajara to help with transfers. We have to take the gmissionaries going home to the airport and then also welcome in the new kids. I am super exited because its going to be tons of work but it will for sure be fun!! It is going to be a long day though!! We have to take the missionaries to the airport at 4 in the morning and then we have to be back at the aiport to welcome in the new missionaries at like 3 pm. So we are going to have lots to do! Elder Castro (my companion 2 transfers ago) is going home Monday. Its crazy how fast time goes by!!

Today we just moved into our new house. We were living with 2 other missionaries in their house and it was super fun but sister missionaries are going to be living there on Monday so we had to move today. Our house has NOTHING!!! All we have is running water and a tile floor. We dont have a fridge, a stove, a microwave...or anything hahaha!! So we will most likely be living the rough life for a few weeks.

Well I am doing great and absolutely loving the mission!! The weeks are flying by because there is always so much to do!! I feel stressed out but at the same time so blessed to be where I am at right now. There are always struggles and trials and that's a given no matter where you are. It's not important what kind of trials you have in your life- the important thing is learning how to overcome them. I love you all and I hope everything is going great!!

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

Mike thought this guy was pretty impressive!

Week 43 - June 1, 2013

So this week has basically just flown by!! I was talking to my companion and it is crazy to talk about the things that have happened this week because it seems like they all happened like this morning hahaha!!

So on Monday night we took a bus to go to Guadalajara and then we stayed with the assistants there and then the next morning we woke up super early. We went to the offices to have a meeting with President that pretty much lasted like all day, from 8 until 4. Then we had to write and make the agenda for the zone leader councils. Then we went to President`s house later to have dinner with all the zone leaders and listen to President Camarillo`s fireside.

Our zone leader councils went really well. I was a little nervous because President gave me a pretty tough theme to talk about. He gave me the topic of trainers and trainees and why they aren't motivated to work. President told me that I had to be direct and firm. So here I am with ten months in the mission, telling all the zone leaders what they needed to do better and I was super nervous!! But it went really well and through all the nerves I think I got my point across!

Then we went on divisions and I worked with a zone leader named Elder Padron here in my area. It was good. We had some super good lessons and we have a bunch of people that we are going to put baptismal dates with soon!! And then on Friday morning we got up at 3:30 to travel to Zamora (the area of Elder Padron). We had to evaluate their zone meeting and see what they did well and what they could do better. Then Elder Morales and I came back and worked in our area.

Today we went to the ZOO!!! It was so much fun!!  Man I miss being a little kid! I haven't been to the zoo in such a long time!! I can't wait to get back and do kid things again with Mitch and all his friends. We bought animal hats and wore animal ties and were literally like little kids running around the zoo. It was so much fun!!  I am having so much fun and loving where I am at right now. Time is flying by and I am very content with how things are going.

Well I haven't read all your letters yet but I am excited to hear about your weeks and to see what happened. I love you guys so much and I am so thankful for everything you guys do for me!! Have an amazing week and have fun!! :)

Love,

Elder Payne