Super good Sunday!

HI family,                                                      August 10, 2014
Well this past week was good. It was nice and long and full of miracles, and to be honest at this moment I can't remember most of this week right now. But it was good and we had a bunch of miracles happen on Sunday which is where I will start. But first the BACK STORY!!!!!!!! (said in Doofenshmirtz voice haha). 

So we didn't go get anyone for church like we usually do because it has been a little bit of a sonap (or waste) because no one we go to pick up comes to church. So we just head to church and pray for people to come.  We get to church and nobody from Nantaku there so we are a little disappointed. But we understand it is because it's a long walk. Then as church goes on KK arrives, she is the less-active lady that we have been trying to reactivate, and NONO! An investigator that lives next door to KK. We were a little surprised but happy. Then just after KK and Nono arrive some other members walk in with another investigator named Patrik! We hadn't been able to see Patrik all week because school started and he has been busy.  We had asked Jovanah (one of the coolest members in Nantaku, who is about 18 and knows perfect English and somehow knows how to teach the Gospel really well) if she had to go up and get Patrik and she said he just came down (because he lives up above Jovanah) all ready to go to church and Patrik said "when does church start?" and just ended up walking with Jovanah and her family. Haha Super awesome! Then sacrament meeting ends and Elder Simpson and I are teaching the youth class this week and as the youth class is starting ANOTHER investigator shows up with her cousin! She is super strong in the church. Haha. It was a super good Sunday so far, then ANOTHER miracle! An older lady we just saw the day before and invited to come to church, she CAME! She was way late and church was over, but she came and that is what counts. She was super sad that church was over but she said she would try really hard to come next week and try the church out. It was a super good end of the week.

So this week is transfers and I am pretty sure I am staying in Nantaku, but I will write a snail mail for it and let you guys know what happens.  otherwise you wont know till next Monday mwahahahahaha!

Ai tong ngenikemi!

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

Dear Dad,
So it is good to hear that the SD card with photos made it to you guys. I worry about it a lot when I send them. The kids with machetes? we were probably up on the mountain cutting grass... "with machetes!" you say? Yes, that is how we cut grass because there are no lawn mowers in Chuuk for some reason. And mom has missed 2 weeks of emailing me and for some reason mail has been kind of slow recently. Speaking of mail I have sent a box to ami (y'all). You will have to wait to get it to know what is in it mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Well love you all.
Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

The Elders at the lighthouse (?)

Snail Mail letter from mid July

Dear Family                                                                              July 19, 2014

I have had a super good week this past week.  So Monday was P-day of course and nothing happened except for e-mailing and even then I didn't get a single e-mail from you guys! What the heck?! What happened?  (we don't know what happened - we know that we have sent letters REGULARLY - both digital and analog versions)

Tuesday we were on exchanges and one of the Elders in Sapuk came to Nantaku with me.  His name is Elder Ladore and is is from Pohnpei and doesn't know very good English but he speaks super good Chuukese.  Chuukese and Pohnpein are really similar.  It was a fun day, then we got one more day together because the District Leaders decided to go one more day.  Then we all switched back on Wednesday night at District Meeting.  It was cool to talk with Elder Ladore he is a super good guy.

Thursday we did missionary work... to be honest I don't remember what happened Thursday or Friday, my bad.  But I can remember some cool things that happened last night.  We were walking home after a super busy day and we are passing the hospital.  Both Elder Simpson and I get the feeling we needed to visit a member who was in the hospital with her baby.  So we go up and talk to her a little bit and give her baby a blessing. As we turn around to leave and there is another member there in the same room with her kid!!  She is a super strong member from Sapuk Branch and she is crying.  She then tells us that she asked the Sapuk Branch President  to send someone to give her son a blessing.  Nobody ever came and she was praying that somebody would come.  Then we show up and are able to give her son a blessing.  We just got back from visiting her again tonight and her son is doing super well.  Tonight he was smiling and laughing and looked a ton better.  It was a huge miracle that has really strengthened my testimony of the Priesthood and always striving to use it to bless the lives of others.  It is real! and the power of it coupled with the Holy Ghost is super gechekun!  Of these things I know and say in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Al tong nyeni Kemi micnisin!  or "I love towards y'all" is the direct translation of that.  Ha ha. But I do love you all and pray for everyone back home and wish the best for you all.

Love, Elder Jeff Payne

Along with this letter he send an SD card with some new photos.  I'll attach a few to each blog entry in the coming weeks.

Elder Payne and one of the Primary Children.

Another one of Elder Payne.

Elder Payne and children - possibly hunting for something.

Elder Simpson

That's child with a machete!  And they are still hunting...

Anybody need a new desktop background??  Awesome sunset in Chuuk.

July 27th letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Well here I am sefan (again) writing another email home, haha.

Well to start, this week has been a long one. It started with a long P-day and ended with a long Sunday. I am just going to do the highlights of each day.

Tuesday- We went and met with a less-active member named KK, there we are teaching her neighbors and they all really like the gospel message even though the church they currently go to really doesn't like our church, haha the true church for the win! haha. Their names are Fifian, Nono, Viper (but in Chuukese it is pronounced more like Fiper), Fifani they are all really cool.

Wednesday- We had a baptismal interview, the iterviewee's name is Sia and she is late 20's I would guess, and has a little daughter named Sasa and they are in a part-member family where her sister is a member.Sia just hadn't been baptized yet. So she got interviewed and she is already to go to be baptized.

Thursday- We went up to see Jay, and had a super good talk with him and he said he wasn't quite ready for baptism and he isn't sure what he is missing but we have taught him everything that we can. All that is left is for him to "pull the trigger" for lack of better wording. He is ready. But wasn't baptized this past week.

Friday- We went around inviting people to the baptism. We told Sia and her family that we would meet them under a mango tree to head out to the Mwan chapel to the baptism. Everything was set for a good baptism.

Saturday- We wake up and get ready to have our first Baptism in Nantaku. We get all ready then the missionaries truck in Mechitiw  wouldn't start and so Elder Simpson and I had to call the Zone Leaders for help. So the ZL's agree to help us. We head out to the mango tree that we were going to meet Sia and her family at and... Sia wasnt there?!? We asked her sister Meinani where Sia was and Meinani says Sia's mom said she couldn't be baptized because she had already been baptized into the Catholic church!!! What the heck! Oh well we try for next week.

Sunday- We get all ready and head out to walk with Sia and Meinani and their family. So we usually walk up the mountain and walk with the members the half hour to church. When we get to the church and it is kind of quiet which is very unusual because the congregation consists of women and childern and are very loud. haha So we walk up the hill to the church and only one member is in the church and she is from NANTAKU!!!!!  haha But it is okay because we started church an hour late and only had half of our normal congregation. Even so, Sunday was super good. Then went out and taught in the rain it was a great day.

Well gotta go love you guys.

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

Letter to Kristen and Young Women Values in Trukese

Dear Kristen, July, 15, 2014

How's Albuquerque! haha  Sorry, just had to poke a little fun at you every once in a while, haha.  Well you wanted to know a little about the people we are teaching so here you go...  But first a few things I have seen in Chuuk:
1.) Women and teenage girls understand the Gospel better so they are easier to teach.
2.) Most men don't think alot about religion. some work. Some drink, smoke and chew betel nut.
3.) Teenage boys are kind of the same as men and sometimes get in fights.
But that seems like it is the same way anywhere in the world. And that's kind of what I am working with.

On to some of the people who are investigating the church...

I will start with Mackido and Bananas.  Mackido is in her early 30's and live in this cool government building that the government built then left it there.  She and Bananas live there.  Bananas is an 8 year old boy and yes, his name really is Bananas, haha. I think it's awesome!  We are teaching them and if we can get them to church they can be baptized. Both of them like the message of the church.

Well I better let you go and get back to the X-Box, haha! Love you Kris, be good and don't grow up too fast.

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

Jeff also sent a copy of the Young Women values in Trukese:

WE ARE DAUGHTERS of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him

WE WILL “STAND as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

FAITH
DIVINE NATURE
INDIVIDUAL WORTH
KNOWLEDGE
CHOICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
GOOD WORKS
INTEGRITY
AND VIRTUE

WE BELIEVE
as we come to accept and act upon these values,
WE WILL BE PREPARED
to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive
the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation

See https://www.lds.org/young-women/personal-progress?lang=eng

Zone Conference Pictures

Dear Family,                                   July 9, 2014
Well I have been doing super good this week. first though yes I am emailing on a Thursday but it is because the new mission president is here for Zone Conference tomorrow. So p-day (preparation day is when the Elders do laundry, chores, and stuff) is today. So this week has been super good we have been talking to everybody all the time it is really surprising how not awkward it is most of the time haha.  But we have been good and we have been teaching up to 30 people a week and have 11 people on a baptismal date and we are hoping they all come to church so please help us in prayer haha.   Well we didn't do anything for 4th of july.
That state fair parade I marched in during high school was awful. It was cold, I stepped in horse poop the whole way, and my feet hurt aaand we didn't get anything for it, so the whole thing was sonapanap (or a complete waste) haha.
Awww man, Cochiti Lake sounds like it was good and I wish I could go swimming, but oh well I will survive for 18 more months haha.

Well I love you all and pray all the time for ami (or y'all is the closest thing in English).

Love
Elder Jeff Payne

P.S.
Hey dad how come no one told me Jay destroyed his longboard!!!!! hahahahaha I am so proud! haha Sorry I think it is super funny haha can you try and send me some pics?  I want to see the extent of his injuries, and I have some advice for him as well. When you have those, "Aw crap" moments, as we call them, to just bail from your longboard. It is better to bail and try and roll it out than to slide into ant hills haha. Tell jay that I am giving him permission to take the bearings from my longboard and use them haha but the wheels and trucks and deck are still off limit haha.
Love you guys!!

Elder Peck, Elder Payne and Elder Simpson learning from President Zarbock.

The Chuuk Zone - July 2014

President and Sister Zarbock

June letters from Chuuk

Combined a few e-mailed letters and one written letter from June.  Also snagged a few photos from Sister Obray's FB page.


Dear Family,                                                           June 30, 2014

Well sounds like it was a good couple of weeks.

It sounds like Jay got the most out of EFY this year and it sounds like he had a really soul searching experience as well (and how many numbers did he get this year! hahaha).

And sometimes it is really difficult to see the blessings of certain situations, haha, trust me I know. But ultimately it will be for our benefit all we can do is take it one step at a time and stop every little while and look and see if what we are doing is what the Lord wants us to be doing because  things happen for strange, unknown reasons that will present themselves in the future.

Thank you for the Harrison's address! I have needed some variety in stories ;) haha no offense

That is super cool about Sister Berger's sister haha. Luckily I am not crossing rivers all day, just sliding around in the mud haha.  While we are on the subject how are the Bergers doing? How is early morning seminary going this year? haha I remember those tired mornings well, haha. But I also remember the things I learned (most of them) and looking back I am glad I went all the time because I learned the stories and the spiritual backdrop to them as well.  It helped that I had the best teachers in the world! (Sister Harrison and Sister Berger!!!)

Love
Elder Jeff Payne



Dad,                                                                      June 30, 2014
Hahaha, sorry for no written letter last week.  I sent a letter just the other day. Oh and I just got the other SD card today.  I noticed it was sent a while ago *use sidie pwata* (I dont know why) it took so long to get to my hands.  I will send the one I have now as soon as possible.  I am doing fine and I don't know the new mission president yet.  We don't get to meet him till next week, haha, because he lives 600 miles away.  We only see him once every 3 months.  I will let him know to keep up the FaceBook page.  I am pretty sure he will but I will let him know anyway, haha.
Love you Dad!

Letter received via regular mail

Dear Family,                                                            June 26, 2014

I hope everything is going well for you guys!

Mom and Dad - How's work going?  How are Jay and Kris doing?  Are there any new crazy fun things you have done?  Is my car still in front of the house, ha ha.

Jay - How are things going? Have you gotten a job yet you old fart, ha ha.  How did EFY go?  I want details, not just "it was good".  Any fun new games come out?  If you get a job you can buy your own X-Box One, ha ha.  Do you have any cool longboard stuff now?  If you want, you can have the bearings out of my board, ha ha.

Kristen - How are things going with you?  How is soccer training going or was it volleyball... shoot Va menuki (I forget) ha ha, sorry. How is Cocoa doing?  You should e-mail me a video of Cocoa doing something, ha ha.  I kind of miss that dog, only a little!  Hey Kris I haven't gotten a letter from you in a while or any pictures either, What the heck!

Hey tell the Shingles to write me.  I miss hearing their adventures, ha ha.  And tell Dan and Rochell and the kids to write me.  Speaking of which, did they sell their house and have moved yet?  If so, send me their address so I can write them.  Do you guys know what Dalton's plans was?  When you guys see Carrie and Marlin, ask Kelly if she ever got my letter.  I sent it a long time ago.  Then tell them to email me.  How is Ian doing? Tell him to email me.

I know with out a doubt that the Ewe Mwichenfenin Jises Kraist ren Aramas mi Pin non Fansoun Soponon mi ennet me Wa Sinei pwan Joseph Smith i emon soufosun Kot me Va fakun sinei ewe Puken Mormen ni ennet me Ewe Puken Mormon mi pwan eu Kapasen Pwarata ugun Jises Kraist.  Va Sinei, apw Va fakun senei Kot me Jises Kraist, ra tongei Kich, va fakun tongei kich!  Va apasa ekkei motoch fan itan Jises Kraist, Amen.

I love you guys and always pray for you all the time.

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne


June 15, 2014

Hey, I did get the jacket and shoes you sent, but one of the instant breakfast packets opened and made a big mess in the box. I am super grateful for everything that has been sent.  Tell Jay to have a super good time at EFY and to meet tons of girls and get ALL THE NUMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also go for and look for the spiritual experiences as well because those are what you will remember and will influence you the most, haha, unless the girl lives in New Mexico then you might remember her but really remember the Spirit.
Love you guys,

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

The Chuuk missionaries seeing Elder Obray off.

Jeff at the Chuuk airport.

Sister Obray posted this picture of the Spam aisle in the grocery store.
Jeff wasn't kidding that they use a lot of Spam!

Two letters with news from Nantaku

US Mail receive this week...

Hey Family,                                                                                   May 30, 2014

Just figured I would drop a quick update on how things are going here in Nantaku!  Things are going really good here we have about 3 progressing investigators.  I know that it doesn't sound like a lot but we have other people we just don't know where they live, hahaha., we're on that.  The three investigators are Larkuse, Jay and John (in order of how long we have been teaching them).  Larkuse is from the island of Tol and he works for the elementary school in Nantaku and could be baptized on the 7th of June if we teach him everything and he wants it.  Jay we have been teaching for a little while and he knows perfect English.  He is from Paulin which is 200 miles outside the lagoon but he went to school in the States and he could be baptized the 14th of June (which I think he will because he is super smart and super prepared).  Now to John, haha, John is  a character he is ADD and gets off subject quick but somehow brings it back to the subject we were talking about.  He is super prepared as well, he really likes us because we don't try to shove our religion down his throat and allow him to ask questions.  The only problem that we can see is that the church is far away from his house.  So Nantaku is part of the Mechitiw Branch so we meet in the town called Mechitiw (pronounced Mech-e-teew) which is a good half hour walk from our apartment and will be even further for John because he lives by the airport which is also a half hour walk  from our apartment.  So it will be tough but I think he will do it.

Well I will wrap it up with saying that as we obey the Lord he will bless us and this seems like a Sunday School thing to say but it's true, to every blessing there is a law that we need to keep to receive that blessing.  I want you guys to go read "Blessing" in the Topical Guide and pick a couple and write me what those scriptures mean to you and with permission to use them with investigators.

Thank you for all the wonderful blessings you guys have been to me in my life.  Stay strong and always follow the Lord.  Amen.

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

E-mail received this week...

Dear Family,                                                                             June 9, 2014
HAHA more food sounds nice but I have lost 40, I repeat 40 pounds, and feel great.  Now don't freak out about it I am still healthy. It is just eating Chuukese food, which is high fiber so fills you up quick and you end up actually not eating a ton. Then the walking everywhere helps shed the pounds and keeps them off hahaha.

Well not much has been happening here just baptizing the island and changing peoples lives and what not haha, no but really we have some super good investigators going right now and I have sent letters explaining about each of them that are progressing but my favorite is Jay he is the coolest guy ever! (and not just because he has my favorite brother's name haha) He is just super prepared and it is incredible how much he has spiritually progressed.  He is an example of how the missionary lessons should be taught and learned because he learns and understands basically by himself because we just guide his thoughts and let the Holy Ghost work on him super hard core it is super cool to watch his understanding grow.

Hey well I am being bugged by other missionaries to get off the computer. I love you all and hope to hear from all of you and hope you all stay strong and keep on reading the Book of Mormon and growing stronger in the gospel.

Love you all,
Elder Payne


A few pictures from the Micronesia Guam Mission FaceBook page and the Crisps's blog...

Elder Payne and Elder Simpson contemplating lessons at Zone Conference.

Elder Payne and Elder Simpson

One more picture of Elder Payne and Elder Simpson

One shoe has arrived. Crocs not good in Chuuk.

Dear family and friends,

Well its good to hear my package got to NM ok. I was super worried about it, haha. Did it make it in time for Jays birthday? Or was it a little late? haha... I wasnt sure when it would make it. It is really nice because the post office is in our area so I can send mail more regularly. haha But still cant get it regularly, thats up to the stressed out, super busy, zone leaders. haha But they are super good they just need the other missionaries to help as much as possible.

I freaking love Nantaku! A lot of the people know pretty good English and can really help me with Chuukese. So I am learning super fast and its kind of hard because I have learned so many words so fast that I cant remember them all.

Tell Kristen to not hurt her self, but if it cant be avoided I dont know what to tell her. I am sure there is some scripture or something that relates to the situation but I dont know them, haha.

Well Kristen and Mom, have fun at girls camp and just remember to trust the Lord because He helps you. You can put your full trust in Him because He knows best.

I have the first shoe and am still waiting on the next shoe. I have been suffering in the Crocs because there is no tread left on them and Nantaku has a lot of concrete that is slick when it rains. But it is the #1 area in the mission!
 
Well I love you guys and talk to you later.

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

We were instructed to send the shoes one package at a time.  Also we have been completely wrapping the packages in clear packing tape to protect the contents from tampering and water damage.

Kristen sprained her ankle jumping on the trampolines at Gravity Park.  Poor thing was only a couple of minutes into her one hour 'flight' when she hurt herself.  We were worried that she wouldn't be able to go up to Girls Camp this week.  But by Tuesday morning, she didn't even want to wear the ankle brace because she was up and mobile.

Jeff re-gifted a Birthday card to give to Jay because they don't seem to be available in Chuuk.  Genius!

Their stove coil burst. never heard of that happening.

Yuck!

Jeff's first transfer and some pictures

Dear Family and friends,

Well as you know transfers were last week and I did get transferred! I am still in Chuuk, I am now in the city of Nantaku and I am with Elder Simpson. I kind of told you about him, but he is from Canada and is super fun and a really good missionary. I am going to learn a ton from him and from the members because in Nantaku a lot of people know at least some English and a few can speak it really well, so they are going to help me learn more Chuukese. I am already really enjoying it here.

That is super cool about Kevin Payne getting his mission call to the California Redlands Mission, I am really glad he decided to go and would love to email him and write to him so if someone would be so kind as to send me that information when they find it out I would be very appreciative.

JAY YOUR GETTING OLD HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So are you Kris don't grow up to quick and savor the good times, they go fast.

Really good to hear that Dan and Rochelle got an offer on their house. Let me know their address when they go so I can write them and get me an email address as well so I can talk to them.  And yell at Dalton for me and tell him to write me or email me or something so I can know what is happening with him.

Nooooo!!! ... DONT SEND ME CROCS! They are not effective in chuuk, they die, really fast. Please heed my warnings. The scriptures say "don't spend money on things that are of no worth". Crocs fall under the category of "no worth". But thank you for the goodies they are really good and do enjoy them thoroughly. But please, I would rather you spend $17 to send food to me. I would just give the Crocks to someone who needs them.

Well I love you all and I want you to all look at life and whatever isn't what is taught in the gospel and "nikitano", or throw it away in Chuukese, it will bless you as you bring your life closer to Christ's and try and make his will your will.

Well I love you all and want you to have the best life possible.

Love,
Elder Jeff Payne

We already sent a pair of Keens shoes - which we have heard are much better. Also received a package with some gifts for the family and an SD card with pictures.  See below...

Using the natural resources for an umbrella

The view from one of the Elder's investigators home.

View from an investigator's home.

Elder Payne, Elder Peck and friends.  (Jeff will have to send us more details)

Kidamwe - peaceful or at peace

May 1, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this past week has been cool.  We had a Zone Conference on April 18.  I got to watch some General Conference... in Chuukese and didn't understand a word of it.  So I will wait until you guys send the Ensign if it isn't too much trouble.  If it's not too much trouble, could you guys download General Conference onto a thumb drive and send it with the next box so we here in Chuuk that speak English can watch it?

So this past week we taught a guy who is a pastor at another church.  But we didn't know he was a pastor until recently, but anywho, we saw him back in March and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon.  Then we couldn't meet with him (Oh his name is Aaron) for a long time because he was sick and/or busy.  But then we ran into him on the way to another appointment so we asked him how he was doing.  He said he was doing good and that he was almost done reading the Book of Mormon!  Elder Peck and I were shocked. We asked him when we could meet with him and he said Wednesday. So we went yesterday and we get to his house and he is home.  So we go in and get done with the pleasentrys and we ask him how he is doing with the Book of Mormon.  He says that he finished it.  Then as Elder Peck was going to ask him something else Aaron says in English, "I want to join God's true church."  Elder Peck and I were absolutely stunned!  We didn't know what to say.  So he went on to say that while he read the Book of Mormon he felt "kidamwe", which is peaceful or at peace in Chuukese.  He said that the head of the church which he was a pastor at was changing their standards and stuff like that.  So he prayed alot to know what to do and felt that he needed to join the true church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the true church.  So he will be baptized on the 24th of May.

Well I will close with my testimony of the Book of Mormon. There is a reason that it is the keystone of our religion because it is the best teaching tool in our 'missionary arsenal'.  If we can get people to read the Book of Mormon and pray as to whether it is true or not, and they pray really wanting to know the answer. The answer they receive will ALWAYS be that it is true and that person will want to change their lives to bring the blessings of God more abundantly into their lives.  This I can testify of because I have seen it happen more than a couple of times in the four months I have been here and will see it more in the coming years.  I say these things in the name fo Jesus Christ, amen.

Love
Elder Jeff Payne

Birthday Page!!
So I have decided to send a Happy Birthday to all that are in the month, these are the ones on the Albuquerque Temple calendar from Grandpa and Grandma. So for May we have - 
On the 2nd  we have Nyla Payne.
On the 3rd is Aunt Julie!
On the 6th is Uncle Bruce!
The 9th is Jennifer Smith!
The 13th is Joshua Payne who turns 4!
Then the 14th is Josh Smith!
Then we have Joseph Payne on the 22nd!
On the 24th is Santana Smith!
Then lastly we got my little brother Jay Payne on the 26th!!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!!!

Letter from April 24, 2014

April 24, 2014

Dear Family,

So far this week things are going pretty well.  So to start, I SENT MY SD CARD a little bit ago, it was in a letter protected by some card board.  Yes some new shoes, Keens, would be nice.  Elder Peck was saying that the ones he has now have lasted his whole mission, so they might be good.

General Conference sounds like it was a good one, we don't get it until about a month later because they translate it into all the different Island languages. That takes a while.  We will get the disk this weekend so it should be really good.

Love
Elder Payne

If anybody want's to send him copies of the Ensign, New Era, Friend, etc  send them to:

Elder Jeffery Payne
P.O. Box 861
Moen Chuuk FSM
                     96942

Be sure the package is well wrapped (sometimes things get wet).  He would like anything - especially copies he can give to investigators or members that don't have the resources to get them.

Happy Easter

Hand written letter receive by post mail today!

April 20, 2014   HAPPY EASTER

Dear Family + Freinds (ha ha spelled friends wrong!)

Well this past week was really nothing special.  On the 18th President Mecham came in for Zone Conference + it was super good.  He talked alot about obedience because that's what the Chuuk Zone really struggles with. Only because the president is 300 miles away + can't watch over us all the time. But that is why we (or I) as missionaries learn about being self-disciplined + honest with ourselves.

Well Saturday was really cool because we went up to a Mima, (pronounced Mee-mah) which is Chuukese for a funeral, because a member asked us to go.  So we did and got there really early and kind of hung out with these two guys. One of them said, "let's do something to pass the time" and asked us if we had a Bible (which of course we did). So Elder Peck hands him the Bible and he turns to Matthew 28:1-10 and kind of just asks us questions about it.

Then Elder Peck pulls out a copy of the Book of Mormon and asks if the man has ever seen or had one.  The man (sorry I can't remember his name) says that he hasn't seen a copy of the Book of Mormon.  So we begin to explain about it whe he cuts in and asks how Elder Peck came to have faith in this religion. Elder Peck describes how when he was younger he went to church because his parents made him go and he just went through all the motions to make his parents happy. Then one day he read Moroni 10:3-5 and decided to give the promise a try and gained a super strong testimony.  That's why he is was on a mission.  Them commited the man to try it out and "find out for himself if these things aren't true".  The man said he would and we could all feel the Spirit SUPER strong.  It was a really good lesson and we are planning on going and finding him again on Tuesday the 22nd.

That was about it for last week but we had a beautiful, sunny Easter today.

You guys let me know how everything is at home.

Love,
Elder Payne

Here are some more pictures from the SD card received in April...

Group Picture