Elder Payne - Concludes Full Time Missionary Service!

On December 18th Elder Jeff Payne arrived home in Albuquerque after serving in the Micronesia Guam Mission!

Elder Payne, President Zarbock, Sister Zarbock, Sister Mario and Sister Mataitoga.

He spent his last day in Guam with Presidend Zarbock and Sister Zarbock and two other Sister Missionaries.

After spending more than 15 hours in flight he was greeted by many family and friends.

After a brief pause at the gate, to tease the family, Jeff was officially home

Mom gets the first hug

Dad has to join in the group hug

Happy and tired of travelling

Thank you to President and Sister Zarbock and President and Sister Mecham for being wonderful leaders!  Thanks to everyone who provided support and prayers for Elder Payne as he served God's children in the Micronesia Guam Mission!

News from Chuuk - maybe the last one before Elder Payne's return.

Dear Family                                                                       November 9, 2015

Well it's getting close to . . .  Christmas!!

Ha ha, you thought it was going to be close to the time when I get to come home. haha.  No but honestly, that is close too.  Only 5/6th of a transfer left, 30 some odd days.  Man it is super wierd to think about it because I don't know any thing else but missionary work right now.  Oh well . . . see you all soon.

My companion Elder Guymon, before he came out on his mission, he worked at Philmont Scout Ranch and has been telling me about it and how much fun it is to work there.  So I got to thinking about it and it sounds like fun (and he said it pays well). So this last trip to Weno I printed off the application.  (sent with the snail mail).

Everything is going good here.  Elder Guymon is picking up Chuukese really well.  We already had a baptism together and are hoping for another few in December.  So help us by praying for us when you can.

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

Short Halloween Reply Letter

Hi everyone,                                                           November 2, 2015

My Halloween was good, we had a baptism on a small island and just had a good day overall.  So in response to some of your questions I received on the back of a letter. I got all 3 letters with the extra money in them. Tell Grandpa that I am super thankful because that last $20 got me and Elder Guymon through this last week without being hungry! Blessings of paying fast offerings!  I liked your Halloween costume Dad.  You make a good Donald Trump face haha.  I will send a longer email in a minute.

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

A longer e-mail was never sent :(

Training News and More

October 4, 2015

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really? December 18th, that is really really soon. Wow haha I thought for sure that I would get home on New Years day and make it exactly 2 years.  Soooo that means that I will go home mid transfer! That will be interesting.  That also means that I will get just 6 days to teach with the full Chuukese copy of the Book of Mormon, wiooooooooooo! 

OH I have big news! Right now I am in Guam because I am Picking up a trainee!!! His name is Elder Guyman! We will still be on Romalum and that means I will finish my mission on  Romalum.  

So here is all the transferrs:
Mwan, Mechetiw, Uman, Fono, Tonoas, Neuo are all staying the same.
Sopota - Elder Dann and Elder Kiapen
Pokochou - Elder Leota and Elder Marshman
Romalum - Elder Payne and Elder Guyman
Udot - Elder White and Elder Gibson
Wichap - Elder Matavao and Elder Harmon
Sapuk - Elder Kjar and Elder Bloxham

I think that is everyone haha crazy transfers huh.  Well see you all in like less than 3 months!

Love you guys!


Jeff finally discovered his return date! :)

Elder Payne and Elder Guyman

Elder Payne and Guyman training

Singing the mission song.

All the new missionaries and their trainers - Oct 2015

 

News from the Faayi Chuuk District via Snail Mail

Dear Family                                                   September 4, 2015

Well this past little while had been interestging for sure.  Since the last letter I wrote I have been kinda sick, just my stomach hurting like crazy and wanting to do nothing but sleep every few days, haha.  I remember this happening to Elder Kleven as well while I was with him and it turned out that he had two 6 inch worms inside, haha.  So we will see what happens because at the end of my mission the give us the "bomb" where it kills every thing and flushes the system. Ohh those will be some fun days, haha.  Well besides that I am doing good.

I am the District Leader of Faayi Chuuk district. Basically a District Leader just gets the weekly lesson count and gives it to the Zone Leaders.  I also give training once a week to the district and get to do exchanges.  That's about it, not much but still a blessing for sure.

Well, sorry I don't have a lot to write about this week but I will try. So here we go.  First, some background...

This transfer Chuuk got 6 new missionaries.  The trainers are Elders Beard, Leota, White, Moughn, Fili.  Elder Nielson and Kjar are joint trainers.. haha forgot why I was writing this...  oh well, it's gone.  We have 3 new Elders in Faayi Chuuk to help and an old area that was reopened so we have tons of owrk to do and lots of exciting things to do.  The new missionaries names are Elder Gibson from Utah (but he is Marshalese and was adopted by a Utah family), Elder Kiapen from Vanauatu and Elder Marshman from Georgia.  They are all pretty cool and super funny and they always accidentally say something bad when they speak Chuukese.  It is super funny, haha.

So in Monday I went on exchanges Elder Beard but he ended up being sick for most of the time, so I had time for lots of studying, haha.  Tuesday he felt good enough to get out and go. So we walked the hour to his area and visited a young man who will be baptized this Saturday and went over the baptismal questions with him. Elder Beard started feeling bad again so we walked back to the house.  On Wednesday we had District Meeting here in Faayi Chuuk. We have District Meetings at a members house in Pata and she feeds us and then we have the meeting.  It works out well but usually takes all of Wednesday because the boat doesn't us up until 1 or 2 oclock.  The meeting can be anywhere from 2 to 2 1/2 hours and then travel time makes it 5 or 5:30 when we get back to Romalum.

Well I better wrap it up now.

I love you all and thank you all with all my heart.  I am good and that chili you guys sent was AWESOME!! Well, I will see you guys in 4 more months.  Oh that reminds me.  You remember how I wasn't sure if I should try to come home a little early or not?  Well on my calendar I wrote down transfers wrong so the December transfer is not Christmas week it is the week after.  So if everything goes to plan I can be home January 1, 2016. So I thought, what the heck, that would be cool and make it exactly  2 years from when I went into the MTC to coming to you guys at the airport.

Well, so there is the plan, I think the itenerary will come out in the next couple of months. We will know for sure.

Stay safe and prepare a piece of plywood for me, haha.

Love Elder Jeff Payne

Parent's notes:
We received Elder Payne's travel itinerary from the LDS travel office.  He will be home for Christmas!!  Jeff hasn't had much access to his e-mail so I don't think he knows that the travel arrangements have been made.   :)

More News from Romulum

Dear Family,                                                                                August 12, 2015

Well I am doing well, no complaints, and after eating Ramen as most meals, certainly no constipation haha.  Thank you guys for your eingino rei (sorry can't spell in English anymore so if this happens more just call Simpson).  Thank you for your faith and prayers in my behalf.  But seriously things have been good and Elder Dann and I are having a blast here in Romulum.  I'll admit that when I first got called to Romulum I was kind of worried and bummed because across from the Mwan chapel there is a house where all the chon Romulum stay when they are in Mwan and because of past times (long long time ago) the local kids would come to the Elder's house at all hours and nothing ever got done and stuff was getting stolen and all in all complete and utter chaos ruled...  Well I guess I was worried that it would be like that all the time here and it kind of was but then I realized that the only reason it is like that in Mwan is because the kids are away from their parents haha.  But here in Romulum they are more or less surrounded by parents and family so the problems gets slowed some haha.  I have met some cool people here and have seen some fruits from the labors of the past and some of my own and over all it has been a fantastic few months and really I can see myself finishing off here.  With who?  I don't know, but we will find out on Sunday August 23.  The longest I have stayed in one area has been three transfers and that was Wichap the first time and the rest of the areas were 2 or 1 transfers... List time
3 Wichap - Elder Peck
2 Nantaku - Elder Simpson
1 Uman - Elder Fermanis
2 Guam (Denedo South) - Elder Rice
2 Michitiw - Elder Kleven
2 Wichap - Elder Matavao
2 (+ 1 week) Romulum - Elder Dann

So if keeping with this streak I will be moving, but again I don't know so we will see...

I am super blessed to have been called to the Micronesia Guam Mission.  As much as I wanted to go somewhere like Alaska or Europe, I definitely would not pick anywhere else now.  Living in a 15x15 box and showering out of a bucket and every little thing.  I love it so much and have a hard time accepting that it will end in 5 short months. But at the same time excited to see you all again.  You guys plan out the first couple of days as long as it involves stopping by my old McDonalds at least 2 or 3 times, haha.

I'll wrap it up with my testinomy. That I knkow the church is true and I also knkow that our work is necessary to all people so that all can see eternal life. If we help but one of our friends come unto Christ it's worth it. Sometimes our work isn't easy , we drift from what we're supposed to do when the Lord tells us or, and we simply go and find the things God wants us to do. God really knows us. We're children of heaven. Like David and Goliath, David wasn't afraid and he just believed in the power of God. Therefore, we should make efforts like David and the Lord will absolutely help us to be happy. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love you all, have fun, read the scriptures and pray every day!

Ren tong seni towan - Elder Jeffery Payne
ika Enter chev Bein (haha)

Random Truk trivia!!
Ulaln: the old spelling of Romalum.  How it changed I dont know but it did.

Untranslated testimony from above:
Iwe I think I will wrap it up ren ai kapasen pwarata.  Pwe ngang ua sinei ewe Mwichifenen Sises Kraist ren Aramas mo Pin non Fansoun Soponon mi ellet me na pwan sinei pwe ach ei angung mi namwat ngeni aramas meinisin ika sipwe weri manau ese much me numwen sia anisi emon chinach sia anisi emon nge feito me ren Kraist.  Fan akoch och angung ese mecheres ika a toulan seni ach kokot me nupwen wew samol a apasa pwe sipwe feinno sipwe chok shiweri pwan feinno esop wor mettoch fan netipan Kot an epwe asukosuk mananach ida sin fen tipetekison mwen mesan kot.  Semach  wen Nang mi sinei keih pun kich noun at me nangen. Um sinei pwe epwe efeiachu kich ren ekkewe mettoch sai niit.  Ussun Dafit mwen Golieth Dafit ese noukus me a chok nuku non ewe Samol epwe anisi Kicheno pwe sipwe pwapwa.  Iei ha apasta ekki mettoch fan itan Sises Kraist Amen

Long snail mail from Romalum

Dear Family,                                                                             July 27, 2015

To finally respond to the 4th of July letter, haha, sorry it has taken so long.  But now it's getting done so let's celebrate quickly before I get 'chipwang' and stop, haha.

So you want to know about Romalum, haha.  Well Romalum is nice, small, and really really hot because Typhoon Maysak blew down all the trees.  The people have a little different accent, but I like it here.  Romalum is fun, it is nice to have an island to myself again because it makes planning easier.  Just go out and pick left or right and see all our investigators on the way around the island.  By the time you reach the house again it is 6 o'clock.  We can rest, eat and plan some more, haha.  Elder Dann is super cool and has a fun British accent.  It's really funny because we have two other missionaries from Britain and they have different accents from Elder Dann but they all live within an hour and a half from each other.  I like it when all three of them are talking together.  Elder Dann is great and works hard.

As for our investigators, to start we are teaching a 13 year old boy who has been living with some members for a couple of years, he will be baptized August 8th (probably by the time you get this letter).  Another investigator is a 24 year old lady.  She was taugh by the missionaries a while back and came super close to being baptized, but her in-laws discouraged her.  But her husband left her so she is going to get baptized.  She is really cool and is planning on being baptized on August 8th too.  We have another investigator named Catleen, but she goes by the nickname ' Nechik.  She is an elderly lady that we ran into by chance. So... to quote Dr. Doofensmirtz .. BACKSTORY TIME!!  So, we went to go contact a referral from a member and after several failed attempts we finally were able to meet them.  We had a good Restoration lesson.  Well, Nechik just kind of sat in and didn't look at all interested.  So we just taught the referal and her daughter and then setup a return appointment.  When we got to the return appointment and the referal lady isn't there, she went to Foup.  So we just taught Nechik and she really liked what we had taught and accepted a baptismal invitation for August 15th.  She has been to church twice already and is working on quitting  cigarettes and coffee.  She is really friendly and funny and is working hard to be baptized.  Finally we have Junior who is an older guy that was also taught by the missionaries a while back and was close to being baptized.  He had to move to Udot because he was super sick and there was medicine that was available there in Udot. He recently came back to Romalum.  We were led to him trying to different guy we contacted on the road one day. So we started talking to Junior and found out he was being taught before and came close to baptism.  He tells us that he wants to start learning again!  He is on a baptism date for August 22, but needs to start coming to church again first.

Well those are the main people, but now on to my questions and wants, haha. Just kidding, I just wanted to say how grateful I am to all of you who helped me learn important Gospel Principles like tithing, fasting and fast offerings.  I have seen massive blessings come from fast offerings recently.  Aweiwei chok missionaries are supposed to pay fast offerings on funds we receive... Well I wasn't as diligent in the past and every month by the last week I had no money and not a lot of food.  So more often than not, the last week of the month was involuntary fasting week. Elder Dann and I have started to consistently pay fast offerings and we have found ourselves with more food for less money. So we still have an excess of food and money (we can even buy candy, haha). But seriously, fast offerings work and we do get greatly blessed for it. You just have to have some trust and faith.  Another thing that I have come to be grateful for is you guys helping me have opportunities to serve in the 'Same Ten People Club', haha. Here in Chuuk sometimes it is the 'Same two people club'... My companion and I.  But it has been a great opportunity to try to help more people and give more service.

Thank you guys so much for all that you guys have taught me so I can help my children learn the same things. I love you guys and I love this Gospel.  I am thankful to Joseph Smith and his being willing to go through what he did to bring the truth back to this Earth.  I am so grateful for the barrier our Heavenly Father has given us to use against Satan.  That barrier is the power of prayer.  If we pray every morning and night and frequently throughout the day, Satan can do nothing but try, and try as he might our Heavenly Father has given us that barrier and Satan cannot touch it.  I know this is true, fan itun Sises Kraist, Amen.

Love you all,

Elder Jeff Payne

Life in Romanum

Some news about Elder Payne and Elder Dann

1. They have fixed the house up that they live in so much. Fixed the porch bannister, painted the walls, cleaned the black mold, fixed the bathroom door so that it closes and locks, jimmy-rigged the electiricty (solar) to work in the daytime. They now have enough power for a lightbulb but only till 5pm when the sun starts going down. Thye have no way of storing power for use at night. They also fixed the screen bug door, cleaned all the glass blinds, cleaned out the 250 gallon water tank and lots of other small stuff. Some of those jobs are faciltities management jobs but it's quicker to do it themselves. All they need is a car battery to get enough electricity to basic things yet it's been over 9 months and nothing has happened. They need 6 car batteries, then they can store electricity and at least hook up the fridge. They are getting really sick of eating the same old dried and tinned food.

2. Elder Dann reports that Elder Payne is a GREAT District leader and they are going to be the best district in the zone

3. They have had to start washing their clothes by hand because the lady that usually does it is pregnant, infact, she just gave birth. They were called upon to go and give a blessing mid-delivery. I can just imagine Jared's face when he found he had to do that !!!

4. The other p-day they started digging a hole on the beach. It was about 6feet long, 3 feet wide and 4 feet deep. Then the Branch President came along and asked them to stop digging because supposedly in Chuukese culture if you dig holes without a purpose then typhoons come! Apparently there was a bit of a wind the next day and people started saying a typhoon was coming. Then on the Thursday the wind got really bad and they couldn't go out. The wlls and floor of their house was shaking and the ocean was rough. People again were saying a typhoon was coming. Just as well it didn't or we know who they would've blamed!

I just wanted to say how thankful I am that your son is Jared's companion. He went through a really rough patch.  Jared got really stressed and depressed about it. We were really worried about him. Then Elder Payne came along. Your son has been brilliant and just what he needed. He's so happy to be with someone who loves to work. Elder Payne is such a great missionary and example to him. We are not worried anymore Smiling face with smiling eyes




Thank you Sister Dann for the great letter!

Elder Payne on Udot island

No new letters yet. Still waiting for either an e-mail or snail mail.  Last official word from Elder Payne was in June. But thankfully FaceBook friends are posting pictures.  So we know he's alive and seems to be doing well.

We did hear that Elder Payne has been assigned the duties of District Leader.  Have not heard which islands are in his district.  We also don't know if he's living on Romanum or Udot. As a District Leader he will spend time frequently visiting Elders on other islands.

Thanks to the Elisons' for posting.

Elder's new home on Udot.  The original home was destroyed by Typhoon Maysak.  One room. No electricity or running water.  They cook on a one burner butane stove or outside on open file.

Eder White and Elder Payne enjoying a meal.  Tuna and canned corn.

The outhouse on Udot. About 25 yars from their home.  What else is there to say?

Chuuk Islands

Elders at Zone Conference.  

New pictures from Chuuk

No letters have arrived for some time since Elder Payne is assigned to Romanum.  However, his companion was able to send some pictures to his family.  I have grabbed a few.  Thank you Sister Dann.

There's home!

Riding in the truck. Notice the collapsed roof damage from the typhoon.

Elder Payne now on Romanum

Hi Mom!!!                                                                                                    June 6, 2015

So I have gratefully received the shoes today and have been "breaking" them in all day. They work great thank you very much.  Let me know when the backpack makes it to you guys, or if you have sent a new one already let me know when it should be here.

And saddly it is true I am no longer Elder Matavao's companion. I have been transferred to the island of Romanum and my companion is Elder Dann from England.  The switch acctually happened a week before transfers due to some extra changes that needed to be made in companionships. But ya, Elder Dann is a stud and we will do great on Romanum (or Romolom).

So Romanum is super cool and the people are awesome. There are a few that will be a challenge but other than that it is going to be the best ever.  So it literally it takes like 2 hours to walk around the whole island. About 4-5 hours teaching the whole way. So it is really really small.  It is kind rough looking which is sort of a bummer because I am sure it was a lot nicer before the typhoon. The family that we go to to help  us learn better Chuukese has a pet bat named Gerald. I will try to send some pictures of him, but we let him crawl around on our shirts, and he is down to just hang out and really likes to eat coconut. It's the best, hahaha.

I will be able to e-mail about once a month again. I think I will probably go home from Romolom. It is super crazy to think just less then 6 months I will be home, going crazy over hot water and blazing fast internet haha. But I am not getting "trunky" or anything because I will miss Chuuk like crazy and we will eat rice and spam on the floor with our fingers every so often, haha. I am sure you guys wont be happy about it but that is what will happen haha.

Well I love you all and pray for all you guys often and hope all is well in "normal people life" haha.

Love Elder Jeff Payne

Here is the small island Jeffery is on.  Looks like it is slightly longer than the airport runway on Weno

Mid-May letter

Dear Family,                                                                     May 17, 2015

Hey I am doing good. In Wichap things are going great. Elder Bloxham got back today and we are excited to have him back!  Haha, it was funny to listen to him talk about the facebooking with you all haha it was great.

Well I am strong and still alive and send my thanks to the Shingles for thier box it will and has been greatly enjoyed.

Sorry... Low on time and the other missionaries are tired and want to go home. So I love you all and wish the best for you all.  Remenmber to pray, read the scriptures and go to church because those things help us stay strong in our faith and will help us to grow and be sure of what we believe.

Love you all and uwie ai kapong ngeni aramasie menisin!

Love Elder Jeff Payne


Sorry for the delay in posting this update.  We did receive a package with various items (some gifts and some things he wanted to save).  The letter in the package was dated January 27th!!  Finally sent the end of May.  :)