Sunday, December 29, 2013

Week 71 - December 23, 2013 - The love of a Father

This week has been incredible and crazy busy!! Man I feel like so much has happened since the last email but at the same time I feel like I was just writing to you all like yesterday!!

Well to start off on Tuesday we had a super good lesson with one of the familes we are teaching. We are teaching a couple named Raul and Guadalupe. Raul is a less active member and Guadalupe isn't a member. We have been working hard with Raul and he is now active in the church and his wife is amazing!! They have 7 kids and they aren't married. They have 3 kids that are members.  Well on Tuesday we read the Family Proclamation with them and asked how badly they wanted to have an eternal family. They told us that they want to get married on January 11 and then Guadalaupe and 2 of her kids are going to be baptized on January 18th. They came to church yesterday and announced to everyone that they are going to get married!!

On Wednesday we had a super good lesson with one of our investigators named Israel. He is 12 years old and his dad is the nicest guy in the world but sometimes loses his patience with Israel. They walk 3 miles to get to church. Israel has had lots of trials these last couple months, including one of his best friends getting shot to death right outside of his house. On Wednesday we taught the importance of the family and specifically between a father and son. I shared my testimony about how much I love my dad and how grateful I am for everything that he has done for me. Then Elder Garcia asked them when the last time they hugged was. They both responded and said it had been many years. We then asked them to stand up and hug each other. There was not one dry eye in the room. We were all crying as this father hugged his son for about a minute. His dad then told him how much he loved him and how badly he wanted Israel to be baptized. Well on Saturday we baptized Israel and it was such an amazing experience.

On Thursday we had our church activity with a bunch of missionaries and it went really well. Each zone had to do a music number. Our zone has 8 missionaries and no one wanted to sing so Elder Garcia and I volunteered to sing, it was THE WORST thing I have ever heard. We asked some kid who KINDA knows how to play the piano in our zone to play the song ¨Oh come all ye faithful.¨ From the first note I felt like it was going to be a disaster. Elder Garcia wanted to sing in English. He couldn't pronounce about half of the words and then got embarrassed after about the first 30 seconds so just kinda stopped singing. So I'm pretty much up there singing a solo in front of about 60 missionaries. It was so bad! Someone took a video on my camera so I will forever be able to remember the embarrassment hahaha!!

On Saturday we had to move our house.  So Saturday was a crazy day with the move and the baptism. The drain in the font wasn't working so we had to take buckets and empty it that way. Man it was awful and I was soaking wet! 

Yesterday was my birthday and it was pretty good. Very different than the others that I have had but good nonetheless. We woke up and didn't have any gas or water in our house so we didn't eat and we didn't shower. Then we went to church. We had tons of people there. The most they have had in months!! We had Israel's confirmation. Then we went to eat with sister Laura Perez. It was super good and they made me a cake. I love that family so much!! They have a son named Steven who is preparing to leave on his mission in May. Then we had a bunch of lessons and came home and opened my presents :)

Then today we went back to our old house to shower and there wasnt any water in that house either...I'm not sure why!! So we took a bucket and went out to the faucet in front of our house and then took it in our house and showered that way. Hahaha the things you get to experience on the mission!! Then we went and ate at this super good lakeside restaurant with Steven and it was super fun! 

I am so excited to get to Skype with the family on Wednesday!! I can't wait to see all your faces again!!! 

Have an amazing week and know that I miss you all a ton!! Thank you for all the love and support, and all the birthday wishes, it just totally made my day!!  If I don't get to write you all back just know how grateful I am for everything you do!! And sorry that this is such a long letter. It has just been a pretty crazy week!! 

Have a Merry Christmas!

Elder Payne

Yes… you better believe it… I found waffle crisp!!!!
Israel's baptism 
My cake that Laura Perez made for me :)
My birthday cake haha
My birthday presents
I guess this is what you do when you are 21… order drinks ;) haha just kidding!
Our backyard in our new house!
Breakfast this morning with my companion and Steven McCombs 
Our new bedroom 
Where we study… with our nice Christmas tree and presents :)
Our kitchen





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