Week 29 - February 25, 2013 - 7 Meses?!?! Donde se fue el tiempo?

7 Months?!?!  Where has the time gone?

So this last week was a pretty good week!! Definitely ended weird haha but you will hear about that later on...

Well I am teaching in english...hold it...that´s weird! So this girl moved from Utah like 2 weeks ago and doesn´t speak any spanish. Both her parents are members and she has her baptism set for this saturday. It´s pretty weird to teach in english haha I am forgetting tons of words. This girl is 9 years old and at times she is correcting my english! It´s pretty funny because we always have lessons at the church and a bunch of members want to ´watch´ our lesson haha! There are a bunch of members who want to learn english and they are so amused in our lessons. We had like 13 people in our last lesson. No one except her and I understand anything so it´s pretty funny. But yeah we are excited for her and she will be getting baptized on Saturday!!!

We also had a member talk to us yesterday at church asking if her whole family has membership records. We looked up her family and found that 4 of them are ´not members.´  So we are going to baptize these people sometime within the next couple weeks. Our ward used to be 2 wards a year ago and as they moved all of the papers, some of the records got lost! So we have one baptism this week with one of the kids. This Saturday we will be having 2 baptisms!

We have our other investigator - Lupe. She is a stud! She paid her tithing yesterday and #1- she isn´t even a member yet and #2- we haven´t even taught about tithing yet. She said she wants to see if Heavenly Father really does bless us!! We were so happy to see that!! But yeah we had a lesson with her yesterday and she said she IS GOING to get bpatized but she wants to take her time. She is amazing! As much as I would love to baptize her before transfers, it is better if she takes her time and doesn´t feel pressured. Tonight we are going to watch The Joseph Smith Restoration movie with them for family home eveneing! I´m super excited!!

So I learned how to make potato chips this last week!! Mayra (the daughter of Lupe) sells potato chips but she was super busy one day and asked if I would help her. While my companion was just chillin and building towers with the potatoes, I was super interested and I wanted to learn how to make them. So I cleaned and peeled 100 potatoes and then cut them super thin and put them into their deep fryer. They were incredible!! I am such an amazing cook ;) and super humble about it too! hahaha

So dad asked a little bit about this but I wiill explain it. So they are making an MTC here in Mexico and it is going to be HUGE!!! The place is called Benemerito. It is a high school right now but this summer they are going to transform it into an MTC.  Its is like the BYU of Mexico....except it´s a high school! On youtube our president let us watch the talk that Elder Holland gave to the students of the school. It is amazing!! If you can find it, you should watch it!

So last night, like I said, was super weird haha! So we finished a lesson and we were walking back to our house. There is a park that we have to walk through. Some guy was standing in the middle of the park, pants down to his knees, just doin his thing! He saw us looking at him, so we said ¨Buenas Noches.¨ We kept walking and he started yelling at us. He was super drunk. He was yelling in english things that were not very good. My companion didn´t understand what he was saying so I just told him ¨walk faster and don´t look back.¨ And then I could hear him running and he was getting closer. There was a carnival in the park so my companion and I decided to go there so that he wouldn´t do anything stupid in public. He eventually caught up to us and hit the back on my shoulder to get my attention. Then he got in my face and was like screaming at me in english, I had no clue what to expect! He just kept yelling at me asking why were were lying to him and he wasn´t making any sense, so after about 10 minutes of getting yelled at by this guy, he finally walked away. My heart was punding!! I for sure thought I was gunna get hit!!

This morning I was doing laundry and we have to hang our clothes to dry on our roof. The stairs to get to our roof are metal. So my shoes were wet because I was washing my clothes. As I was running up the stairs, I slipped and my shin just sliced open!!  It was super nasty and bleeding like crazy!! I felt super light headed and thought I was gunna have to go to the hospital! I don´t remember but my companion said that I fell asleep for like 20 minutes in my bed! I´m pretty sure I passed out!  It was a weird feeling!  I think it was just shock because I was running up the stairs with wet clothes in my hands and I had nothing to save myself with... it hurt so bad!! 

But overall it was a good week! Pretty interesting but good! I love you all and I am so thankful for all the support here!! I am working my butt off and it is all paying off! We will be having transfers March 18th and we have 5 baptisms planned before then!! We are workin hard and doing everything we can! ¨Do your best and God will do the rest.¨ Have a good week and god bless!! 

Su hijo, hermano, amigo, primo, tio, nieto...

Elder Mike Payne

Who says you can't have a girlfriend on the mission?!

I had so many mosquito bites last week!  It hurt so bad!  I had 9 on my face and tons all over my hands and arms!!

Hot dogs at 7:30 in the morning?  YEP!!!

I was on TV... how embarassing!

I am super strong... nbd

My companion made a tower of potatoes as I was slicing them

My slices open shin this morning... after I cleaned up all the blood haha 

Week 28 - February 18, 2013

This week has been pretty good!  We baptized Fernanda on Saturday. It was such a stressful day!! We had our zone conference in the morning and it ended at 3:15!! The baptism started at 4 and we were stressin because it was a 45 minute taxi ride from where we had our conference to where our church was. We finally got to the church at 3:55 and NO ONE (except for the Bishop) was there!!! We were wondering if we missed it or what happened!! The Bishop got there early to fill the font and he was just hangin out with his family! And then at 4:15 Fernanda and her family were the first people that showed up. About 5 minutes later it was like a stampede!! There were so many people there!! We had to take some of the seats out of the room because they were taking up too much space! We had like 20 people standing in the back!!  Mexican Mormon standard time!  Everything went well and she was confirmed yesterday at church. 

The other elders in our ward also baptized someone. Her name is Eduwiges and she is about 50 years old and she has been catholic all her life.  She bore her testimony of her conversion and it was super good! We had 3 investigators at the baptism who are all catholic. We are hoping that this week we can set a few more baptismal dates. We have two coming up in 2 weeks and 2 more planned for March 15th. I wanna end this transfer with a bang!! I will probably be transferred on March 18th.

So this last week the Pope retired because he was sick. I´m not sure if it is a huge deal in the States but here in Mexico everyone is going nuts!! I bet it´s probably around 85% catholics where I am at right now so everyone is making a huge deal about it!  I was thinking about one of the talks that I watched back in the MTC from Elder Holland. He talked about that when we are called as missionaries we are called for a life time. God only expects us to do our best and to never give up. That's all I'll say about that.

Anyways...as some of you have asked...I didn´t do anything special on valentines. As much as I would have loved to spend it with some hot girl...I ended up spending it in Mexico with Elder Santiago, but it was good. I opened my package that morning and it was perfect because it was valentine themed!  We went to go eat and the member said that she was about to leave but that she would give us our food in a bag to-go. So we took our food and ate in a park, my comp and I were laughing so hard! It was such a nice romantic date in the park...

Well I ate chicharron this last week and let me tell ya...I HATE CHICHARRON!! I don´t understand why people eat that stuff! 

But yesterday I had an amazing meal!! So we had 6 elders in Buenos Aires last week so we all went to this members house to eat. He told us we were going to be eating sea food. As he served us he told us what it was and it all started out good with salmon, shrimp, and a fillet...but then it got crazy. He started bringing out squid and octopus and some weird stuff. I was so scared to eat but then it turned out to be incredible!! It was probably top 5 meals that I have had since I have been here!!

Well I am doing great and I am working as hard as possible!!  I am doing great and my comp is still copying all that I do. I told him today that this next week he is going to lead. He has 11 weeks in the mission and I don´t need to be telling him everything to do! So this should be an interesting week! When I focus on his strengths I have a more positive outlook on him and our companionship.  I love you all so much and I hope you all have an amazing week!! Take care and God bless!! 

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

My Valentine this year! haha

We saw this graffiti and decided to take a picture with our look alikes 

Our romantic Valentines lunch in the park.  We are just two peas in a pod! haha

I made a meal for my Valentine

Tried to teach these guys the law of chastity... they decided not to listen

Fernanda's baptism!

Week 27 - February 11, 2013 - 200 Days?!?!

Well this week has been pretty good!! We have been teaching Fernanda and she is preparing for her baptism for this Saturday. She is super excited and nervous for her baptism. I absolutely love that family! We go there every day to teach her because it´s an excuse to hang out with the family. They have the two cutest little girls. One of them is 3 years old and the other is 7. They are soooo funny and always so happy!  Fernanda´s grandma went to church yesterday and she loved it!! She is pretty catholic but she said she loves our church and the people are super nice and friendly. One girl asked if she was the one getting baptized this Saturday and she said ¨not YET.¨ hahaha Elder santiago and I were super excited to hear her say that! We are hoping to set a baptismal date with her hopefully this next week!

Yesterday was so funny at church!!! So on Friday night we were walking back to our house because it was almost 9. One guy on the street, who looked like a homeless druggie told us I´ll see you tomorrow.¨ Elder Santiago and I didn´t think anything of it until we show up to church and he is waiting there by himself. We were super shocked!!! He is such a weird dude!! We sang the opening hymn and after we finished, he yells ¨GLORIA A DIOS!!¨ hahahaha He is pentacostal and he says in that church everyone yells that kind of stuff hahaha!! Then some kid went to give a talk and started by saying "I am super nervous to be up here today.¨ Our investigator, Jose, yells AMEN!¨ It was such a weird experience!! And then we gave him a book of mormon and he wrote a bunch of interesting stuff in it.  But then as he was about to leave we escorted him outside and he asked ¨where´s my bike?" and then 5 seconds later some little kid flew around the corner on his bike. As Jose approached this kid he took his bike and said ¨Ya me voy.¨haha (meaning,' I gotta go'). I´m not sure if this story is funny for you guys but as I am writing this, I am thinking of the experience I had yesterday and I am literally laughing out loud right now!!!

So last night I finished the book of mormon for the first time in spanish! I started in November and I have been working super hard to finish it. Our mission president challenged us to read the book of mormon in 85 days (the same amount of time it took Joseph Smith to translate it) and to mark three different things- 1)Every time it says God, Lord, or any other name that refers to God. 2) Attributes of Christ 3)Every time God or Christ are speaking. I finshed the book last night at 11:45 hahaha!! I kinda procrastinated and forced myself to read 365 pages in 4 days hahaha!!! But hey I finshed and I met my goal so that´s all that matters!!

Tonight we are having family home evening with the Ortega family and we are making DIPPIN FINGERS!!!! We were talking about peanut butter one day and then the thought popped into my mind to make dippin fingers with them! We have family home evening every night at their house and they always make food so I told them that we can go over to their house early tonight to help them prepare and that I can make the food for tonight!  We are also going to have 5 other investigators there!! Mayra is such an awesome member!!! Man I love this family hahaha!!! 

Well I hit my 200 day mark on Saturday! Pretty crazy!! I feel like time is really starting to speed up and I am really enjoying my time here!! I am at the point where everything is going good and where I am loving where I am at...I think that means I will be getting transferred soon hahaha!!! Pretty crazy how fast time goes by!! 

Well I hope you all had an amazing week and that you guys can continue to enjoy life and every second it has to offer!! I am doing great and enjoying my time here in Buenos Aires! We will be having our next transfer March 18th and I really don´t want to get transfered hahaha!! But I will serve wherever I am called and just know that I am working as hard as I can!! I love you all and thank you so much for all the support and love!! 

Take Care and God bless!!

Elder Mike Payne

Getting a massage from one of Sister Martel´s daughters...hey it´s perfectly legal!! She never touched me hahahaha!!

Another picture of Abigail...daughter of sister Mayra Ortega. I don´t know if i have told you guys yet but I love that family!! hahaha

A view from the nicest part in our district. I had to give 2 baptismal interviews in Patria (an area in our district) and the view was awesome, along with all the houses! 

Super good tacos that Sister Martel made for us one day!!

Selling chips at the school with Mayra Ortega and her family and friends

2 missionaries from our ward left for their missions on Wednesday. The one on the left is going to Veracruz, Mexico and the one on the right is going to Uruguay

Week 26 - February 4, 2013 - RIP 9ers!

Hola,

So this week has been pretty good!! Other than the fact that the 9ers lost!! Looks like my prayers didn´t work... I´ll take the heat for this loss! Sorry guys!! 

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we had to host either new missionaries or old ones going home, since we live close to the airport. So that was 3 nights in a row that I had a horrible sleep. I slept on the ground all three nights, AAGGGHHH!!! But on Tusday I got to see Elder Murdock and Elder Silos - they are both training. It was awesome!! 

On Tuesday we had another lesson with Rosario. She is progressing, but very slowly! She has had 5 months with us and she is still not sure. When people say ¨don´t give up on the hard investigators¨ they are all referring to Rosario. 

On Thursday we had lunch at a members house. It was called ¨chicharron¨ and it was awful. It is flesh of pig... I´m not kidding!! Look it up online!! I almost threw up! She sat down at the table with us to talk so I had to act like I was thoroughly enjoying my food! I ate it like pills. I just chewed super fast to break up what seemed to be rubber and then I would put some soda in my mouth and just swallow! She had a 2 liter bottle of Fresca and I drank almost the entire thing! After 45 minutes of suffering, I finally finished my food. I asked if I could go to the bathroom because I honestly thought I was going to lose it!! And then I just felt super sick all day and that night I was throwing up all night! It was TERRIBLE!!

So we have been working super hard with this one less active family, they are awesome! The mom (Mayra), has stayed pretty active but her sister (Arendira) went less active for 4 years and she said she was never going back to church again. We started meeting with them last month. We didn´t really talk about church or anything because we didn´t want to pressure her into going back. Two weeks ago she asked what time our church service was and she told us she was going to go. She has a 13 year old daughter (Fernanda) who isn´t a member. They have gone to church the last couple weeks and loved it.

We went to their house yesterday to have a lesson with them and Fernanda asked what she needed to do to get baptized. We were super happy to hear that! It´s seriously every missionary's dream to be asked that question. We then told her she needed to have a few lessons with us and have an interview to show that she is ready. She then asked when she could get baptized! Another amazing question for missionaries to answer! We told her it was her decision and she replied with, ¨How about right now?¨ haha So we set her date for February 15th and it has been awesome meeting with this family! We have family home evening with them every Monday night and they always invite their neighbors. We have a couple baptismal dates planned with a couple of her neighbors so we are hoping it will all work out!

Well that was it for my week. It was a good week and every week is getting better. It´s weird because as much as I would love to leave this area and see other parts of this mission, I kinda wish I could just stay here for the next 17 months! I am getting attached to a few of these families and I know it will be so hard to leave this area!

Congrats to Ashley Amos & Alex Wassom on their engagement! That´s awesome, so happy for you guys! 

Every week I am more shocked at how many dead dogs I see!!  It´s like seeing dead squirrels in Pleasanton. You just see them layting in the middle of the street and its like not a big deal at all! A couple nights ago we were walking through a park near our house and their was a dog fight and tons of people were crowded around watching! It's so sad what some people do for entertainment!!

Well I love you guys so much and I hope you are all doing well and that you had a good week!! I was super bummed to hear about my 9ers but in a couple weeks I´m sure I will get over it. You don´t know how hard it was laying in bed last night not knowing if they won or lost.  Hey at least Kyle Williams didn´t play! That made it a close game!

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

Some bird we found outside of our house. Pretty nasty hahaha we were walking back to our house and we saw this bird laying on its back. We thought it was dead. My companion walked over towards it and picked it up and it was moving!! I absolutely HATE birds and I was so scared to take these pictures. I have the bird in my hands for about 10 seconds hahaha I made Elder Santiago take the pictures super fast!!!

Our zone again after transfers! Not a bunch of changes but here is our new and improved zone hahaha

We ate at this members house who lives on the hill in our area. We decided to take this pic with an awesome view of Guadalajara 

Week 25 - January 28, 2013 - Go 9ers!

Hola!

So this last week has been pretty good! I am feeling a lot better and my stomach isn´t hurting as bad! At times I feel a sharp pain but other than that I am feeling better! Also these last 2 weeks in a row elder Santiago and I have walked 49 miles exact!!!...coincidence...??? hahaha wish I could be home to watch the super bowl on Sunday but brother Martel invited me to have a 4 hour long family home evening with them on Sunday hahahaha probably gunna turn down the offer, but hey a quick visit won´t hurt ;)  I will be wearing my red tie every day this week!  I'm sure it will help them win the game! haha

Anyways we are teaching Eric right now and he is understanding a lot more. We have finally figured out how to teach that kid! hahahaha and it is awesome because it makes every other lesson seem so simple!! Seriously I get so frustrated during these lessons with Eric but when we teach other investigators I feel like this gospel is super easy to teach. So many people get caught up in studying too much and forget about the small and simple parts of this church. That´s what I love about teaching Eric. We teach the bear minimum because that´s all he can understand, but that´s all God asks of us. If we can keep his commandments and endure to the end we will be saved and enter into the kingdom forever!!

Edwin is saving up for a phone haha! I seriously love this kid...probably my favorite investigator I have had. He wants a phone with internet and games on it. He has to save up 14,000 pesos. Every day we go teach his brother Eric, he comes in with his pesos and shows us how much money he has. He now has 24 pesos hahaha funniest kid ever!!

On Saturday I had the weirdest lunch experience of my life hahaha!! So we called the member that we were going to eat with to confirm that she would be there. She told us that she had left to work and that she wasn´t going to be home until later that night. But she told us that at the corner of her street there was like a taco stand with chicken and all this stuff. She told us that her friends own the place and just to eat whatever we want and she would pay for it later that night. So we just ordered one of their rotisary chickens. They told us to sit in the table in the back and they would bring us our food. As we sat down, I realized that we were surrounded by like 100 flies! And on top of that, the open garbage was behind us and it smelt sooooo bad!! I just lost my appetite and didn´t want to eat at all. They brought us our chicken and as we started to eat, I realized this was probably the best chicken I have ever had in my life!! It was absolutely incredible!! Weirdest experience ever!! hahaha the place was sooooooo nasty but the food was soooo good!

Last night we had to go to the offices to host the missionaries that finished their missions and that were going to leave today! They were all so excited and ready to go home! Since we live close to the airport we had 3 missionaries stay in our house. The whole night they were just telling stories of their missions and how excited they were to go home! They were practicing how they were going to greet their families. I just felt so homesick all night! I wish I could be in their position!! I wish I could go home and see you guys today...but nope...gotta wait 18 more months! Tonight we have to go to the offices again and host the new missionaries. They are staying in our house so this time instead of feeling like the young guy I will feel like the one with experience!

Well I hope you all have an amazing week!! Special shoutout to Mackynzie Perry who will be entering the MTC on Wednesday as she goes to Texas! So happy for you! You will do awesome!! I love you all and enjoy every day!

I am doing great and workin as hard as I can! Should be a fun couple months comin up...we have a bunch of ¨prospects¨ and bapstisms planned! Pray for all the missionaries in the world...but more importantly for the 9ers :)

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

Mike eating a tongue taco!

Mike and his buddies!

Here is what Mike said about this little guy, "I found this nasty creature living in one of my shoes.  I went to put my shoe on and thought it was a big rock so I stuck my hand in to feel this nasty thing haha I screamed like a little girl!"

Week 24 - January 14, 2013

Hola!

So on Friday we had the baptism for Edwin!! It was such an amazing experience!! On Thursday we had our interview with him and it was different than any other interview I have had. usually there are some questions we need to ask to make sure they are ready for baptism and to make sure they have a sufficient amount of knowledge but the interview with Edwin was amazing!! 

We teach lessons with pamphlets and they have pictures in them that make it super easy to understand. So we basically just went through all the pamphlets and asked him to describe the pictures and bare his testimpony about each of the pamphlets. He did such a good job!! By the end of the interview he was literally sweating and he said ¨That was a lot of thinking...my head hurts!¨

So Friday we got to the church at 4 to prepare for the baptism because the font always has bugs in it. At 6:30 Edwin and his family showed up at the church. We waited for about 30 more minutes because his mom was at work and we didn´t want her to miss it. It turned out she couldn´t make it because she had to stay late at work. But everything went well and there were tons of people at his baptism!!! Everyone loves Edwin. Every week at church he makes sure to shake everyone's hand. If they walk in 30 minutes late to sacrament meeting, Edwin will get up and run to the door to shake their hand. He is the nicest kid in the world!!

As it came time to enter the water, Edwin was so happy because the water was warm, he had the biggest smile on his face and he was super nervous! As I finished the ordinance, I put him under the water and his legs FLEW up out of the water!! The second time was the exact same!! The ward mission leader came up to the font and said ¨Well it doesn´t need to be perfect, right?¨ haha So then I decided to baptize him on my knees! He was so nervous and all three times he held his breath through the entire ordinance because he didn´t know when I was going to put him under the water!! But it all worked out awesome and Edwin turns14 tomorrow and will be ordained into the teachers quorum and will receive the priesthood next week!!! I am so happy for him!!!

Well my companion is trying to learn english, on Saturday during language study I taught him how to count to ten...for 45 minutes!!! And 20 minutes was him trying to pronounce the word ¨ten.¨ But he is getting better.

Well this last week wasn´t too crazy, but we walked 56 miles! I went on divisions with the missionaries in my district because they are having a pretty rough time. One is super sick and will most likely be going home within the next few months. So I went and worked in their areas for a day to help them out and see how they were doing.

Well I love you all and I hope you are all doing well!! We have another baptism planned for this weekend so that should be good!! He is 9 years old and his parents are less active but we are helping them to be reactivated and they will be baptizing their son this weekend!! It should be another good week!!

Looks like I have another team to fast for... first the Giants then the Cougs and now the 9ers!!! Lets go!!!!!!!!

Con Muchisimo Amor,

Elder Mike Payne

Picture of the baptism with Edwin

Picture of the baptism with Edwin 

I found this super nice bath tub!  Pretty refreshing on such a hot day!

Divisions with Elder Carranza

Me and a big Mexico sombrero haha

The audience at Edwin's baptism

Week 23 - January 7, 2013 - My Best Week So Far!

Hola!

Well this week has been a good week! For the first time in my mission so far I can honestly say that I am really enjoying it out here. I am getting use to this place and my language is pickin up quick! Right now we have 13 investigators and I have never worked so hard in my life haha! They all live pretty far away from each other so at times Elder Santiago and I are practically running to lessons! It´s awesome though, I love it! The first few months I used to count down the hours until we could go back to the house and now I´m bugged when it´s time to end the day! I love that pedometer thing that you guys gave me for Christmas! Last week we walked 45.7 miles! 

So on Tuesday I got a call from President Camarillo telling us to come to the offices. I was super scared and nervous haha and I was just thinking of all the possible scenarios that could go down haha! But when we got there he pulled us in to his office and started talking about our area and how hard we are workijng. He was being super nice and he was just talking and laughing with us. He then said ¨Hey, you know that kid Edwin?... Baptize him.¨  I was so happy to hear that!!  Edwin is handicapped and is a little slow for his age. He is the brother of Yazbek and our President told us a few weeks ago not to baptize him because he doesn´t need it.  

Well last week our stake president and our mission presidnent talked about the situation and our stake president told him that Edwin could receive the priesthood...but in order for that to happen he needs to be baptized.  We have been working super hard with him this past week. These lessons are probably the most spiritual lessons I have had with someone on my mission. His sister always cries because Edwin is finally understanding his purpose in this life. I have learned so much from this kid. The thing I have learned most from him is patience. He is very hard to teach and we have to teach the same lessons about 5 times for him to understand but it is so rewarding when he finally understands! 

We taught him how to pray last week and he started crying in one of his prayers! This might be the closest I make it to the Celestial Kingdom so I am just makin the most of each moment I have with Edwin. His baptism is this Friday and I am so excited!! When we told him for the first time that he could be baptized he said ¨ORALE!¨  This means like ¨No Way!¨ hahaha  It was super funny! But he is super excited and it will be a great experience!!

So things with the comp are still the same.  He does EVERYTHING I do!  At times I just need to take a few deep breaths so I don´t attack the kid but I restrain haha! Every morning it´s pretty cold so during studies I wear my California sweatshirt that I bought in San Francisco. Keep in mind that this sweatshirt has ¨California¨ written huge on the front. Well as we were about to leave the house for the day I wanted to see what my comp would do if I didn´t take off my sweatshirt...as we walked out the door he ran up and put on his sweatshirt too. Then I said Ï´m a little hot actually. I´m gunna take this off.¨ He replied with yeah...me too. I was wondering why you were wearing that.¨  hahahaha  What a character!

So I have set a bunch of goals for myself for this next year and I am hoping to achieve them all! Some are pretty lofty but with faith I know it can be done. Most of them are with the work and how I can change but one goal that I have made is that every morning I make breakfast for my comp and I. I figured this is the only meal that I really have control over so I wanna make it good haha! So this entire year I set a goal to make breakfast for me and my companion. It has been good so far! My companion stands behind me and watches as I make us eggs and oat meal every morning. hahaha  It would be cute if he was 5... but nope- he´s 20 and he watches me make him breakfast every morning!

I also made a goal to exercise every morning for 30 minutes. I bought a jump rope last week so I do that and push ups and sit ups every morning. I feel great! 

Well I hope you all had a great week and that you are all having a good new year!! I love you all so much and thank you for all the love and support!! I feel bad that I can´t write everyone back but know that I am thinking of you all!! 

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

It poured last week!  This puddle I am in was like 2 feet deep!

Thanks to the Primary for my gifts and my tie!

Here is our zone! 

Herbie!!!  haha the car looked exactly like the one in the movie!

Week 22 - December 31, 2012 - Feliz Navidad y Ano Nuevo!!!

Well this last week has definitely been a bittersweet one haha! I loved calling the fam and seeing how you guys were doing and actually getting to see you and talk to you but at the same time it was very hard to hang up and end the skype sesh haha!! My Christmas was pretty much the same as every other day here in the field...except for the phone call of course!! But we had some pretty good lessons that day and I was surprised because all the missionaries say that your lucky to get invited into one house on Christmas. 

Hopefully where you guys are it is a clear night and you can see all the fireworks tonight!! Right now in good ol´Mexico it is POURING rain!!! Like flooding!! It´s nuts!!

Well my companion is hilarious...definitely one of a kind!! I mean I know I am a pretty awesome kid but he copies LITERALLY everything I do!!! He won´t buy anything unless I buy it first or unless I tell him it´s okay. During lessons he sits the exact same way as me and it is so funny because I will sit in a super awkward position and he will somehow find a way to do the exact same!! You would think he would catch on but NOPE!! hahaha this last week during one of his personal studies he studied about dogs in the scriptures...FOR AN HOUR!!!! What an interesting dude!! I have realized I can´t change him, but I can change myself and my attitude so I am just trying to love the kid for who he is and appreciate every minute I have with him.

So on saturday the Bishop called me and asked if I would give a talk the following day. I accepted the favor of course and I was actually suprised that I wasn´t nervous. I gave a talk for 15 minutes on the importance of prophets and why we need to have them. I read a few scriptures and bore my testimony and it went pretty well. In this last conference, President Monson concluded and gave an amazing talk. He said that when we have trials or afflictions we must stay close to the gospel. He also said that often times we have afflictions and we just wait for them to pass...instead we must try and learn from every experience we have an make the most out of every situation we are placed in. I then challeneged the ward to read the Proclomation to the Family and set goals for this next year and ways that they can achieve these goals.

Yesterday afternoon we had an interesting lesson haha. The kid is 19 years old and lives in Mexico city but is visiting his family here for the holidays. Part of his family that lives here is mormon so we went by and visited them and had a lesson with this kid. The lesson was awesome and we just explained to why people yell at us and specifically tell mormons that their church is false. Why don´t people do this to the catholic church? or the Christian church?...or all others? I gave an anaology that I really liked. I told him it was like `playing a soccer team and one player on the other team is the star of the team. Obviously you would put extra defenders on him to stop him from scoring. I told him that´s exactly how it is with this church. satan puts tons of temptations in our lives and tries to make the good things seem foolish.... as we were about to leave, his 95 year old great-grandpa started yelling at us and told us that if we ever show up to his house in Mexico City he will kill us. I then replied to the 19 year old, ¨my point exactly.¨ hahahaha Everyone started laughing

Today we went to Wal mart...I know I know...another vacation. I bought tons of chinese food, knowing I couldn´t finish it, and took my left overs to a homeless family of three just getting soaked in the rain. I felt so bad and I wished there was more I could do but they were so happy to have food. It was such an awesome feeling! Then we took a taxi ride back to our house and I started talking to the taxi driver and then he asked who we were and I started giving him a lesson. Well 20 minutes later he accepted the baptismal invitation hahaha and he lives in our area!!! We have a lesson with him on Wednesday! How crazy right?

That´s about it for the week. I wish I could be home with the fam during these times but I now can say I only have one more Christmas away from home. I know things will start going faster and faster so I need to just appreaciate every day I have here and take nothing for granted! I am enjoying it more and more here because I can actually communicate with these people and we are seeing a lot of success!! Hopefully we can start this next year off right! 

I love you all so much and thank you so much for the letters and support!! You guys are all incredible!! 

Love,

Elder Mike Payne

Here are some pictures with captions that Mike sent!

My companion and I representing the Cougs 

Me opening my Christmas present that I got from my family

Me right before I got to Skype home on Christmas.  I was so excited!!!

They have this thing called the Tianges here.  It is like the farmers market in Pleasanton, but a lot dirtier... as you can see!

This is a super cool street! 

Giving food to the homeless this morning

Giving food to the homeless this morning

This is my VACATION spot!