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!