Week 41 - May 18, 2013 - Blue Eyes?!

This week has been a pretty good week! So on Monday I traveled to Zamora (a zone) to work with one of the zone leaders there. I worked with this kid named Elder De Los Santos, he is a pretty cool dude.  We had a pretty funny lesson... we had a family home evening and as we began, one of the daughters started telling me how much she loved me eyes.  It started to get kind of awkward because she just kept staring at me. The whole family starting commenting as well about how much they loved my eyes and it just completely ruined the family night and our lesson! hahaha  Blue eyes aren't very common in Mexico! Neither is blonde hair!

Then on Wednesday morning, I came back to our area for a few hours and then went to Uruapan (another zone). I dropped off Elder Morales there and came back with Elder Pintor. We worked in our area and had some crazy lessons!!

We had a lesson with one of our investigator families; they are super cool but they have some crazy beleifs!! They told us they have been baptized in 4 different churches and they believe in every belief in every church. They are mainly focused on Krishna right now. It's some Indian religion and they were telling us some of their beliefs and I couldnt take it any more haha!! They showed us a picture of Krishna and he is blue! Elder Pintor looked at me and asked ¨Is that Avatar?¨ hahaha but they said they love reading the Book of Mormon and thery want to come to church, but they have a lot of other beliefs to drop before they can get baptized.

Then we had a lesson with another family, they are all members except for the Dad. As we got up to the house, we noticed him passed out in the drivers seat of the car. We entered the house and then like 5 minutes later we hear the car start and he just started honking his horn like crazy. He was super upset that we were there so we told him that we would leave. Before we could leave, he told us to sit down because he had a few quetions for us. He asked us some crazy questions and then just started ripping on his wife! I felt so bad for her. He was just screaming all of these horrible things and telling us how much his wife has ruined his life and how he wants to get divorced. He just went on for like 15 minutes and we couldn´t stop him because he just kept talking even if we tried to interrupt. We eventually just set another time to come back because there was no way we were going to have a good lesson with him there. We asked if we could end with a prayer and he said that he would do it. In his prayer he just started yelling cuss words and telling God how much he hates his wife and how unhappy he was with her. I wanted to hit the guy so hard, I felt so bad for his poor wife and daughter that were just sitting there listening :(

But then on Friday morning I met up with Elder Morales and we had a few lessons. We had a church activity last night and it was incredible!! It's pretty hard working in your area as an assistant because you are only there like 3 days of the week. But in our activity we had 5 of our investigators there and they loved it! We just played a ton of sports and it was super fun. We had more people at the activity than we did at church last week!!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to be traveling to Guadalajara. Elder Cristofferson is coming on Monday to talk to our mission. I am sooooo excited!! It has been so much work for my companion and I trying to plan how everyone is going to make it to Guadalajara. Imagine trying to find a ride for 86 missionaries without cars to get to Guadalajara which is like 7 hours away!! So I just cant wait for all this stress to be over so I can just sit down and listen to Elder Cristofferson!

I love you guys and I hope you all had an amazing week!! Man it was so good to talk to the family last week!! Nothing like getting to see the whole family again!! Take care and keep enjoying life!!

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

Mother's Day breakfast... pancakes with peanut butter.  Yum!!!!

Skyping with the fam on Mother's Day! :)

A Catholic Cathedral... it was huge!

On divisions with Elder Pinto.  I was lost and was calling the sister to get directions to her house haha... it's tough opening up an area!

Morelia Centro at night

Another picture of Morelia Centro at night

Week 40 - May 9, 2013 - Transferred!!!

Wow what a crazy and incredible couple days it has been!!

So on Tuesday Elder Alvarado and I were walking to a lesson and President Camarillo texted us saying ¨Elder Payne when you get a moment give me a call.¨ So I called him to see what was up and he told me that I was having special changes. I couldn´t hear him very well because it was super windy so all I heard was, ¨Be in the offices tomorrow at 9 am with all your bags ready to travel.¨

I started thinking of all the worst possible scenarios that could have happened. I was almost on the verge of tears because I was convinced that something had happened to my family. So I decided to call president back and I made him promise me that you guys were okay. I think he was more concerned than I was!!  And then came the big news. He told me, ¨Elder Payne...you are going to be one of my assistants.¨ I was super shocked!! I am definitely not good enough to be an assistant but I will work as hard as I can to be the best I can be.  It will be a lot of work, I didn't realize how much the assistants have to do!!

So on Wednesday I got to the offices and President Camarillo was there and I had an interview with him before I went off. He told me how happy he was for all the work I had done so far and told me that I have one of the highest baptizing percentages in the mission (whatever that means hahaha) and then told me he knows that the mission will be okay if I keep up the attitude and keep working hard.

So yesterday I just traveled all day!!  As an assistant we have to travel(by bus!) to every area of the mission.  I am now in Morales, Michoacan - which is 6 hours from the mission home!  I will have to go there every 2 weeks, so I will not actually be in my 'home' very much at all.  We spend a lot of time visiting other missionaries, and doing divisions with them.  I'm super excited about where I am and who I am with! 

My new companion is Elder Morales. He is a stud!!! He is from Guatemala and he is such an amazing missionary. We are having tons of fun together. This last transfer President just made 4 assistants instead of two. We have two states in our mission (Jalisco and Michoacan) so he decided to put two assistants in each state. So Elder Morales and I are opening an area and it is super tough because we literally have 0 investigators but he is such a hard worker so I have no doubt we will have success together (for the time we are in our area haha). 

But I am doing great and LOVING where I am at and who I am with!! Crazy how much an email can change in two days huh?! hahaha

I love you guys so much and I can´t wait to talk to you Sunday!! That will be such an amazing day!! Only 3 days away!!!

Love,

Elder Payne

Soccer as a zone on Monday

My sun burn from soccer.  That part of my neck hasn't seen the sun in 10 months haha

Skyping Mike on Mother's Day!

Mike showing us his cool "new" phone lol

Getting to Skype Mike in Mexico with Carlee in Utah and his immediate and some extended family in California!

Week 39 - May 6, 2013 - Rough Week

Well the week that I thought that was going to go by super fast, ended up going extremely slow!!  Man this is going to be a tough transfer!!!  So I will just start with Tuesday and Wednesday; we had our zone leader councils and it went really well. I learned lots! President Camarillo is the man! He just knows exactly what to say! It was nice to see all the other zone leaders and hang out with them. My new companion is probably the hardest working companion I have had, which is awesome... When we get into a lesson he is just super hyper and ready to go!  I think it rubs some people the wrong way, because we haven't had much success this week.  I fasted on Saturday and Sunday so that we can have more success together and that I can have more patience.  My companion is Elder Alvarado and he is 27 years old and used to be a fisherman before his mission.  We set up a bunch of divisions with our ward this last Sunday, so I am going to have him visit the less actives while another missionary and I visit the investigators.  Hopefully we can get some of them back on board! 

Well yesterday we had a pretty funny experience. We got on the bus to go to church - keep in mind that it is 10 am, and some Mexican I guess partied a little hard for cinco de mayo. As we got on the bus, I looked at the ground and noticed a stream of liquid headed toward the front of the bus...as I followed the stream, I saw some guy sitting in his chair with his beer in his hand, just completely passed out. As the bus would put the brakes on, his momentum would go forward, making all his beer just pour out of his huge one liter bottle. As I examined a little more, I noticed this man just dripping beads of sweat and his ¨pride and joy¨ sticking out of his zipper of his pants...man the things that I see here in Mexico...  Never a dull bus ride!

Well that was my week. I am going to work as hard as I possibly can to do everything I can for this ward and our investigators. 

I love you all so much and thank you for all the love and support. You guys are all amazing!! 

I AM SOOOO EXCITED TO CALL HOME ON SUNDAY!!!!!!!

Have an amazing week andI´ll SEE (Skype) you soon!!

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

PS- ALL my teams get blessed because of me!! Keep cheerin on the BAY!!!
 :)

Last pic with Elder Castro... miss that kid!

Me and my friend Bessy.  She always hangs out by that fence and she is one of my good friends!

The new zone

Week 38 - April 29, 2013 - VACATION 2013!

So this week has been pretty awesome!! My vacation was great!! 

So Tuesday we got to the airport and Elder Murdock and I sprinted to call our families hahaha! That was so awesome! It was so nice to call you guys and hear your voices! Man I can't wait to actually see the fam via Skype in like 11 days!! That is going to be so awesome!

So from Guadalajara we flew to Mexico City. We had to sign a bunch of stuff for our visas so that we weren't illegal!  We had a four hour layover in Mexico City so we just hung out at the airport and waited, then flew to Houston and got in around 9pm....but that didn't stop us from having a party. 

The guy who picked us up told us that we would be staying in a hotel and then proceeded to tell us the plans for the next two days. So we got to the hotel and ordered Dominos Pizza and just partied in the room. The only thing that sucked was having the huge flat screen TV mounted on the wall and NOT being able to watch it! But it was super fun getting to talk to Elder Murdock to see how everything is going. He doesn't talk English because he wants to make his spanish perfect. 

On Wednesday we woke up and went to ihop to go eat breakfast! Man that was probably the best breakfast I have had in like 9 months hahahaha! I took so many things for granted in the states! I think when you can say that you miss ihop...you have been in Mexico for too long! Then after ihop we went to the consolate to sign a bunch of stuff for our Visas again, it took 2 hours and by the time we left it was noon. So then the guy that was driving and hosting us asked us where we wanted to eat. We found a mall and ate there. Then the guy told us that he wanted to buy a few things for his family (since he lives in Mexico and can't buy the same stuff there). So we walked around the mall and just hung out for like 4 hours! I think if I were ever to be at a mall for 4 hours before my mission I would kill myself. But to be able to have a little free time was super nice!  

Then the guy finally took us back to the airport and we had to wait for another couple hours...so we called our families again hahaha!! It was so nice to be able to talk to Mitch on his birthday! I was so happy I got to do that! 

We eventually had to end our vacation 2013 and come back to Mexcio. At least this time I know what to expect! We got to the secretary's house at like 2 am and had to wake up the next morning at 6. So I was sooooo tired on Thursday due to the lack of sleep the last 2 nights!!

This week was a super good week in our area and zone as well. We completed our goal for baptisms for this month. In the beginning of every month, every companionship sets the goal of baptisms that they wnt for the next month. Our goal was 9 and that was pretty high. Remember that our zone had only baptized 3 in the last 3 months! Well this last week we had a baptism and completed our goal for the month. President called us on Saturday to congratulate us on our hard work and the success we had in the month of April. We set 5 baptismal dates on Saturday and Sunday so we are hoping to see lots of success this next month of May as well!

Today was transfers...my first transfer as a zone leader...and it sucksss!!!! I have been waiting in the big bus station for no joke 6 hours!! President made a new rule that we can't travel alone so I have just been chillin here setting up rides and companionships here.

I got a new companion today and it will definately be a tough transfer. His name is Elder Alvarado and he is from Veracruz, Mexico. He use to be a crazy fisherman before his mission. I can barely understand his spanish, the mexicans can't even understand him!  He talks so crazy!! But the kid loves to laugh so I am just going to work super hard at having fun and making him laugh. I know that when I finish my mission and have tons of trials, I will look back on my mission and say that my time with Elder Alvarado was when I learned the most about myself.

Well right now I am still at the bus station and I have to wait here for like another 30 minutes and then I get to leave and then I have to go to the offices tonight to host the people that are training. So there goes my P-Day hahaha! But I am excited for this next transfer and for the experience I will have to work with Elder Alvarado. We are going to work as hard as we can so that we can seesuccess and have fun together.

I have tons of meetings and zone leader councils this next week so it should be a pretty fast week for me out here! I love you guys so much and thank you for everythinhg you do for me! I can feel your support all the way out here. Even though I am in a different country, I hope you guys can feel my prayers and love! Goodluck and enjoy the next week! 

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

We have landed in the States!

Writing in my journal in the bath tub... that was such a clean and nice bathroom!

Eating Dominos Pizza... the simple things!

Breakfast at Ihop!

Elder Murdock and I in front of the mall

Superman Ride!

Elder Murdock and I are the coolest!

Eating a Molten Lava cake at Chilli's in the Houston airport!  Best meal EVER!!!

Going back to Mexico

Vacation 2013 is officially over

Week 37 - April 22, 2013 - DEPORTED!

So yepp...I am being deported and headed back to the states for a couple days while my visa is being processed. I will be assigned to stay in the Houston Texas mission. So that will be pretty sweet I guess haha! I am going to the offices tonight and then tomorrow morning we leave to Texas. I am super excited because elder Murdock is going too so we are just gunna chill for a few days!!

Well this week was a super good week here in good ol mexico! On Tuesday and Wednesday we had leadership meetings all day and it was pretty good. President Camarillo told us some big news...Elder Christofferson is coming to speak to our mission the last week of May so that should be cool! Also we are going to start having American sisters serve in Mexico. President Camarillo said probably not here in Guadalajara because it wouldn´t be the best place for American girls to be!!

On Thursday I had a meeting with President Camarillo and oiur stake presidency! The zone leaders have a meeting with the mission president and the stake presidency every month so it wasn´t a big surprise but I was still pretty nervous. It was suyper cool though because President Camarillo was being super nice to me. Our zone in the last 3 months has only had 3 baptisms.  So far this month our zone has had 9 baptisms!!! We are super excited!! It has been a very good month. It just feels good to help make people's lives better.

Let me just tell you how happy I am that I was raised in a city and not on a farm!! I had the craziest experience of my life here on Saturday!! So we went to eat with a family on Saturday and as we walked into their house they had like 20 chickens running around. My first thoughts were ¨wow...only in mexico...¨ Then the mom told us that they were planning on killing a couple and she wanted ME to do it for them. She toild me that they have never killed a chicken before so they wanted me to do it for them! Okay this is some sort of sick joke!! So we ran around like idiots for about 30 minutes trying to catch the stupid things!!

Then as we finally caught them, I was expecting to go to some slaughter place to kill these chickens...but nope...the mom tells us to go over by the drain on the ground and just cut off the head. I asked her for a knife and she handed me a stake knife...I was expecting like a butcher's knife or something. Well anyways it wasn´t very sharp so I think I just tortured the chickens!! I had to like saw back and forth and on one of them I cut in the wrong place and started cutting through a super thick bone and it didn´t go to well. But I got the job done and as we were leaving the mom started taking all the feathers off the chicken. She then invited us to go back to her house tonight to eat it hahahaha I am so happy that I am going to the offices tonight because I am missing out on that wonderful experience...So Nasty!!!! Check the blog for pics!

Then Saturday after that whole incident we headed over to the church to prepare for our baptisms. We had 3 baptisms as a ward so that was pretty cool. It was actually the best baptism I have been to in my time here in Mexico. We couldn´t fit in the baptism room so we had to go to the chapel and have our program in there. Elder Castro and I baptized a guy named Miguel. He is such a stud! He is 23 and has had tons of health problems in the past. He went through chemotherapy for like 7 years of his life. He is the son of other recent converts and he has come such a long way!! He told us that he wants to be a missionary like us and that he is going to work as hard as he can to get all of his papers in by next year!!! I was like crying when he said that! He is so awesome!! The other two baptisms were of the other elders in our ward (Elder Hippard and Elder Hughes). It was such a good experience!!

Well that was it for my week. Such an awesome week and I am sure this next week will be pretty eventful as well! I am pretty excited to go back to the states fopr a couple days and I am going to try and get out to some super good Barbecue restaurant with Elder Murdock hahaha!!

I love you all and thank you so much for all the support!! Good bless and talk to ya´ll next week.

Les amo y que Dios les bendiga!! Cuidense mucho!!!

Elder Mike Payne

Sharpening the steak knife to kill my prey... I am so hard core!

Here we are trying to catch the chickens with laundry baskets haha

Me and Elder Hughes about to pounce!

Kissing the chicken

Cutting off the head

Liliana's baptism from last week

This person figured out that their car couldn't fit so they just decided to bend the bars on their garage door... a lot of garage doors look like that out here haha!!!

The baptisms this last week - Miguel, Brenda, Gabi, the last bishop (left), and the current bishop (right)

Miguel and his mom

The most people I have ever seen in a baptism.  I counted 43 that were there!  So awesome!

Week 36 - April 15, 2013 - Look for the GOOD

So this week was pretty good!! Sorry this email is going to be a little shorter because I don't have a lot of time.

Anyways, Tuesday night President called a bunch of the zone leaders to go to the offices to give him our missionary agendas. I was super nervous because he said he was going to a council with all the mission presidents in Mexico and they were going to revise them and see how we were doing with our agendas. The assistants told me that he only took the three best agendas and one of them was mine...not a big deal...I'm just a super good planner ;)

Then President called us on Wednesday and told me I was going to be having divisions with the assistants for the week. So I went to their area and worked. It was cool because that was an area in my old district so I got to see a few missionaries from the old district. It was fun though-I learned a ton from them!! We actually had a lot of success in their area. We found 3 new investigators and set a baptismal date with two of them. They were so happy because they aren't having any success in their area because they are hardly there! They told me they work like 2 days a week in their area so its super tough to have baptisms. So hopefully those two investigators will get baptized soon!!

Then I came back on Saturday morning and we had our baptism with Liliana. It was such a good baptism!! She invited a bunch of family and friends and because of her, we have 4 new investigators!! She is going to be such an amazing member!! She is super pumped up about sharing the gospel and particpating in all the activities we are having in our ward!! I am really excited to see her progress now as a member!!

Then Saturday after the baptism we had a lesson with our investigator who has his baptismal date set for next Saturday and he was asking us what time it was going to be at. hahaha so were almost positive that this kid is going to be baptized. He is so awesome...his name is Miguel and he is about 24 years old. He told us that he doesn't want to hang out with his friends anymore because he wants to be like us. We asked him what that meant and he said ¨I want to serve a mission too.¨ We were so happy to hear that and he is so awesome!! These last two weeks he has gone to church in his Mexico soccer jersey, basketball shorts, and his black hat that he always wears. We told him that he should probably wear different clothes and he felt so bad because he just thought that you should go to church in comfortable clothes. haha  But he is awesome so we will most likely be having his baptism this next Saturday.

President sent me a letter last week telling me that I am supposed to be serving in this area for a reason and that is to help the missionaries that are struggling and not having any success. He told me that because of the success that I had in my last area, he decided to put me in an area that isn't having any success. That made me feel so good and I have just been working super hard to help the missionaries. It's pretty tough but I am starting to gain a greater love for these guys. In the beginning I was pretty frustrated at their disobedience and lack of success, but I have realized what I need to do to help them and they are doing awesome!! We have already had 4 baptisms in our zone this month and we have 5 planned for this week and 6 for the next week. I am loving this zone and where I am at right now. Tomorrow we are opening another area in our zone because their area is huge and they are splitting it up. So were hoping to see some more success in that area.

I am doing great and loving the mish. It is so crazy to see the difference in my attitude because at first I hated being here and I thought this place was so dirty and so dangerous. I will always remember what Carlee said. I don't remember exaclty what she said but it was something along the lines of, ¨You can find beauty in everything...if you are looking for the bad, you WILL find the bad...but if you look for the good, you WILL find the good.¨ She sent me that in the very beginning of my experience out here and I will never forget that because it is so true. This place may not be as beautiful as the beaches of Hawaii (mom and dad), but I am enjoying it here and all the many experiences that I am having.

Well that is it for this week but I love you guys and I hope everything is going well. Take care and God Bless!!

Elder Mike Payne

Week 35 - April 8, 2013 - An American Meal!

Hola Everyone!

Well to be completely honest, nothing super exciting happened last week...kinda hard to beat watching some guy get crucified hahahaha!! But nonetheless is was an extremely fast week and it was super good!!

So on Tuesday we had our zone leader counsels that we have every month. We went to president´s house and Hermana Camarillo made us a SUPER good meal. She always makes American home made food for all the americans!! She made roast beef, steamed vegetables, salad, and super good rolls!! Wow it was such an incredible meal!!  And then President just pretty muich did a fireside and talked about how we, as leaders, need to show an example for our zones and it was super good!

But president gave us a few new rules...one of them being that we don´t have a time limit while we write home on the computers!! It was super funny because some of the zone leaders were actually kinda mad. President shared his feelings on having the missionaries write a detailed letter to him every week instead of focusing entirely on their letter to their families. I mean hey I´m not complaining!! We´ll see how long this lasts for! But I will make the most of it for now hahaha!!

Conference was super good!!! I can´t believe there are more than 45 thousand missionaries right now!! that is pretty crazy!! We had 5 investigators go to the Sunday Morning session and it was super good!! I think my favorite talk was Holland. Man that guy is awesome!  But it was fun because we had our own room with a TV that had conference in english. We had like 5 of the american missionaries in my zone watching it. It was pretty fun because we were paying attention but at the same time we got to talk and we didn´t have to stay completely silent the whole time haha!! It was nice to be able to speak in english!

It´s funny because one of our investigators only went so that he could play soccer with me hahaha!! So yesterday in between sessions we had a little soccer game. It was the first time I played in a while!! Man I was schoolin' the Mexicans haha!! It was the first time I played here in Mexico (and I don´t even know if that counts since I was in church clothes)! But it was super fun!!  I miss the good ole days on the Foothill turf.......losing every game. ahhhhhh the good ole days hahaha

Well that was it for the week. We have a baptism coming up this Saturday so we are super happy about that. This zone is kinda dead so its pretty frustrating but we are working hard to set the example for the missionaries and to help them out in their areas. Also president told us that Elder Castro will be leaving after this transfer. President doesn´t like missionaries ending their missions as zone leaders. So I have to know this whole area and everyone living in it within the next three weeks. It is super funny because I just walk around with the map all day asking where we are hahaha!! Im picking it up quick though so it´s all good!!

Well I love you all so much and thank you so much for all the love and support!! Go out and share the gospel...and if you have questions...ASK THE MISSIONARIES!! God Bless and have an amazing week!! You are all in my prayers every day!

Love,
Elder Mike Payne

"Guero" means like "white boy" hahaha that's what everyone calls me on the streets!

Inside San Juan De Dios.  That place is crazy!  Super cool though!!

At San Juan De Dios.  That is a big Catholic cathedral in the background.  It was actually pretty cool.
 

Elder Smitheram's chair broke during conference.  It was super funny haha!  So then I decided to tip the chair over and in the second picture that's what it looked like haha

The zone of Reforma

What I had for lunch... chicken feet!  YUMMMMM!!! 

Week 34 - April 1, 2013 - Feliz Pascua!

What a difference in this holiday!! It is crazy here on Easter!

Okay so here's why it is so crazy here...So Friday was the day Christ died for us. So the Mexican Catholics have a tradition around here. As their Easter tradition, they re-enact the crucifixion of Christ. On Friday morning, elder Castro and I were walking to a lesson and in the middle of the street was a huge group of people walking towards us. Leading the group was a guy dressed as Christ and 2 guys dressed as the Jews of that time. The guy dressed like Christ had a white towel around his waist with a thorn crown on his head. He was walking down the street with a huge cross on his shoulders. A couple people were behind him helping him out. The two guys dressed as Jews then proceeded to dip their towels in a bucket of red paint and whip the cross (representing the whipping of Christ-except they hit the cross instead of his back). This group consisted of about 250 people! They were all chanting and singing, it was a little depressing!!

Then Elder Castro and I went to eat at a members house and we were telling her of the event that just occured. She then proceeded to tell us that they were walking him to the front of their huge catholic church to be crucified!!!! They literally put this guy up on the cross all day...with nails in his hands and feet!!!!!! What is wrong with these people??!! People could go and kneel down in front of him and pray. Last year they said the guy who volunteered died! I don´t understand it!

And then they decided to cut off ALL water on Friday. Since in the scriptures water represents life, they decided to cut off all the water here!! Then on Saturday they have a tradition where everyone goes into the street and has a water fight!!  Definitely an Easter I won't soon forget!

Yesterday we had a ward baptism, the mom went all out!! Tons of their family is from Tiajuana and they drove 36 hours to get here! There was probably about 30 of them. They all came dressed in purple! It seemed more like a quinceñera! We had a few investigators at church and I think it scared a couple people away. She had elder Castro and I direct the baptism, she had SIX talks on the program!

I hope you all had a good week and that everything went well for you all!!

Elder Mike Payne

Me and Elder Murdock!  

This is the little girl we baptized

Me and Elder Silos and the kid he is training

Everyone here worships the Chivas! haha

I am definitely gaining the weight back... but at least I'm happy right?! :)

McGriddle! Yum!

Went to McDonalds with Elder Smitheram.  We had a blast!

Paradise!