Monday, February 28, 2011

Hola Familia! Its me again, Hna Payne. Here it is another week and time to write again. Crazy.

This last week we only had one investigator. Hno Fantine. The husband of the member. Well I can officially call him an investigator. We asked him if we could start coming by and giving him the lessons. Im not really sure what to expect here. All the elders before have all tried getting a baptimal date but he doesnt like the pressure of that and I think it might have a little to do with his first wife and fam. But I think we are just going to start giving him the lessons and when we get to three we will ask him what it is that he wants. Not sure yet. But oh our poor little ward. I want to say we average about 45 every Sunday but we were even less than that this last sunday. The bishop called everyone to repentance and told them to bring inactives to church. But I dont think they know what they can do to fellowship someone. Eh we are trying to come up with a plan. We are trying to focus in men and families. THat is what our ward needs. Well, that is what everyone needs. We are just trying to all together avoid the moms that have the husbands that dont want to listen.

Hna Runyan and I started a new theme 创sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven创 from praise to the man. There was a guy that talked to us about when he was a mission president in Mexico and they had this theme. They started a room in the mission home where they all the missionaries could send in their possessions that were distracting them. He said he got soooo many things. Cds, photo albums, a guitar... etc. This room got to be FULL of stuff. And the results were more baptisms. Well, we dont have this theme in the mission, and we really dont have any guitars to send into President.. but we decided we could sacrifice more of ourselves. You know you leave on the mission, and that is the easy part... giving up school, work, families... etc like you have no choice in that part.. the hard part is consecrating ALL of yourself to the work. The things, you think about, some of the little rules, etc. Sooo much depends on sooooo little. I know that I have changed.. i have been here for 9 months.. but I still feel like the same old callie trying to do big girl things. Well there is ALWAYS more to sacrifice! 创Sacrifce brings forth the blessings of heaven.

Drew! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DREEEEEWWWW. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! You definitely need to go eat at cheesecake factory and eat a chocolate Godiva cheesecake for me. AND an oreo, butterfinger shake from jcw and dedicate them both to me =)

Thank you Drew, mom, Karan and Grandma for the Bday wishes =) I still havent gotten any mail in like forever.. so I will let everyone know when I get something from them.

I thought that I was going to have lunch this Thursday with the Bishop and his wife (every thurday is lunch with the bishop). Turns out we have an orientation thing all day instead. Ohh well. The lunches are always good at least.

Kels, That is sooooo cool. You didnt write when any of this will take place. Like next week? Where is this house? And Im still waitin on the other good news... but then again it wont get there in time.. boo.

Hna Jones! I dont need anything. Just send me a letter =) As always I love hearing how you are. Im sorry you arent in the mountains anymore. Yes, I am still in my second area with my second companion. We could very easily have another transfer together. If we do have another one it will be 6 months together as companions, and then before that we were in the same district. I think Hna Runyan just might be an eteral mission companion. Well she goes home in June so I guess it cant be forever. I love her though. We have fun


DADDY! That is way super cool! It sounds like you are getting a dream come true.

Okay well i give up sending pictures. i have been trying the last month. I had a good story and everything.. and wanted to send the photo. I cant just tell you the story now. Boo.

Okay well I love yall soo much. Thanks for all you do for me. Have a great week.

Love,
Hna Payne

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Hola! Its me again, Hna Payne!

Life is just about as good as it can be. Not a lot of time to write today.. thats okay, I dont have much to say anyways.. Eh I just tried sending photos again... but its not coming up... =( what pics did I send last? Did i ever send one in my hat?

Yesterday we had zone conference so this morning we get to write. I love zone conference. We only have them like every 3 months. I wish we could have them every week. They are always so spiritually uplifting, but then at the same time soo....hard. Ha we always walk away knowing we arent doing enough. Sooo much depends on sooo little. Always lots of room for improvement.

Mirta was at church this last Sunday. She still doesnt have a baptismal date. She said she would call us this week because she is on vacations. We dont really know how we can help her. She went and talked to the Bishop after church though. Maybe he gave her some great words of wisdom. We know that she isnt reading the Book of Mormon. Some how we have got to change that. We talk about the BoM all the time. But she isnt going to get a strong testimony of these things with out reading.. .its just not going to happen.

We decided that we are going to be focusing more in men and families. That is what we need here. Something interesting that President told us a while back was that Elder Foster (in the seventy) was telling him how the work here for gringos is coming to an end.. how we need the Latinos to serve here. Which im sure that has always been the idea and goal. It just seems that they are really going to try pushin it more. President asked us yesterday that we need to send in all the names of young boys that are floating around in our wards. I dont know if they have some kind of plan for them.. but he said that we are going to be needing all of the gringos in china. Its cool to know that the work continues to move forward. It will be interesting if one day that is where all of the gringos are called.

Karan! I got your email and xmas card. Sorry I didnt mention that one. I have had that for a long time. And it is never too late to send my bday card. It might be after, but it will be something to open =)

Mom, I need some sunscreen.. the spray rub in kind. Crystal light packets are always welcome, especially raspberry ice. And I need a snickers bar. Someone was asking me about one. I just decided i like opening things =) Oh and a couple of tooth brushes!

Dad, im still waiting on my package of dried bananas and apricots =)

I cant find the email with camie´s address.

Has Hope left on the mission yet? Which mission is it again?

Kels, I loved the pics. Soo cute

Okay, well I love yall and miss yall. Have a great week!

Love,
Hna Payne

Monday, February 14, 2011

Hola! Its me again, Hna Payne!

Well, Im still here in good ol Resistencia, with the same ol companion =) I was really sad though when we got transfer calls and I wasnt changing. Ha THEN the assistant called.. I guess to say bye or something (im not going to say that I was glad.. or that I really like the new one) he said that I was movin up the senior and that I was gettin a latina, Hna Nava, another missionary close. I was sooo excited. But that I didnt hear, was him say that he was just joking. He went on to talk to my comp for like 10 minutes all the while I was wondering what i was going to do the next day. Then I found out he was kidding. Ha talk about sad day. Oh well. I love Hna Runyan, so if I have to spend it with a gringa, it might as well be her. THe response back from President was four words ´´patience is the word´´ Eh, im not a patient person! And what does that mean? That we will be together ANOTHER transfer. Ha if that were to happen it would be 6 months together as comps and three just knowing each other. Or next transfer I could have a mini. Oh I hope not. A mini is a regular person from our mission that comes in for a transfer when missionaries dont get here. I think we will have like 4-7 minis. It all depends on how many sisters we get. I could be making up that number... but i think we have like 3ish now.. and like 4 sisters leave this transfer (one of them being my trainer.) Any ways im enjoying the journey.. where ever that takes me.

This week we finally talked to Mirta!!! Our zone leaders called us telling us that Mirtas employee callled them to tell us to keep going by, that she was worried that we were mad at her because she missed out appointments. The thing is that we had gone by every other day if not every day. The kids just hadnt been giving her the messages. Anyways she came to church, which means she has 3 times in church, which means she can be baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!! We just havent been able to talk to her in like 2 weeks, and she has only had the 1st lesson. We have an appointment with her tomorrow. Hopefully we can get a fecha with her.

I dont have a whole lot so I will send pics =)

Karan, I got your letter! Since Im absolutely horrible with letters, I will at least give a shout out every week! =)

Mom, I didnt get your package.. maybe tomorrow =)

Dirty, No excuses =)

okay well it didnt work.. my pictures... really i just dont have time now. sorry.
Maybe next time =) i was even going to send one in my hat.

Okay well have a great week. I love yall!

Love,
Hna Payne

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Hola familia! Its me again, hna payne. Have I ever mentioned that I hate writing? Again, I dont have anything to say =) I will give it my best go though.

This week at church.. well we got to go to sacrament after we went to get three families... none of which came. It rained like cats and dogs the day before and it was sooo muddy walkin on the dirt roads. That was fun. There was one investigator in church. I say one.. but his wife is a memeber and we still arent teaching him. Hopefully the bishop will talk to him soon. Our sad little ward. There was like 35 people in church. Soo many inactives =( The people had been praying for hermanas. Now we are here and I feel like we are failing them. Well, we continue to go on and do our best.

Mirta wasnt at church this last week. We werent able to get a hold of her in any way. The one time we talked to her by phone and got an appointment, she wasnt there. And then we went by other times too. Hopefully this week will be different. We had another family promise us they were going to come.. then last minute on saturday night they just werent. We were even going to go get them in a taxi. The culture is soo different down in this area. I dont know how to describe it with out being negative and judgemental. Maybe this Sunday =)

Transfers are tomorrow. I love Hna Runyan but I really want and need a latina. I asked president in my letter. Ha we will see if it happens. But I REALLY need it. I have 9 months and I cant talk, i dont understand. Eh I only have 9 months left. I feel done before I even get started. What if I never get it? Maybe its best if I come home before I completely fail. Totally kidding. And I know, I know... ´´Forget myself and go to work!´´ Great council =) Dont worry im not down or discouraged or anything.. just stating the obvious.. okay and maybe complaining just a taddy bit =)

Why I love Argentina story: It was raining cats and dogs the other day and we were down ´´north.´´ We were walkin the dirt roads. They were sooo muddy and we were slippin and slidding. I was wearing my rain boots but Hna Runyan was in her normal shoes. She decided to walk on the side walk to try and help her. What she didnt notice was that the sidewalk ended (because everything looked just muddy) and she fell into one of their ditches. Ha she was soaked. There were a couple of kids that were watching and they just died laughing.. along with us of course. She is probably going to die from a parasite or something. We arent sure if their sewage runs out in them. Gross.

Dad I have a cd with the Shenandoah (fix spelling) song on it. I think of you. What is the story again? I remember watching it one time... I also eat lots of peaches. I think of you when I have to peel my own =)


I got my hair cut.. that was an experice. It was a by a guy named Ramon (one of the other hermanas went the week before). I just thought he would have had a more gentle touch when he was washing my hair. It hurt. But I still have my long hair, so thats good.

Sounds like you have options with the business. That doesnt sound like you to let strangers in on it.. and to share you bean recipe. Here I was banking on a job when I got home.. and a good one. Ha oh well.

We went to wal mart and mcdonalds today. Not that exciting. Mom you asked about my clothes. We wash them by hand. Or sometimes we ask one of the members that said she could. I will NEVER complain about doing laundry one day when I have a washer and a dryer.. even if I do have 12 kids. The little things (or the big things) that we take for granted.

Okay well I love yall. Thanks for all yall do. Have a great week.

Love,
Hna Payne

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Hola! Its me again, Hna Payne.

Life here is about as good as it can be. Quite an eventful week. I say that... Now I cant remember anything. I hate writing. I know yall do too. Maybe I will just send pics from here on out. Less pressure =)

Mirta was at church again this week. We are going to try and put another baptism date with her. She rejected the first one. She is sooo great though. We need to find a way to talk to her kids though. Im pretty sure they dont have any interest... but that can change. We need her to tell them. We will also be talkin about that.

Hno Fantine was also there. He is the member that isnt really a member. His 2nd wife is a member and her two daughters. Hna Fantine is our mom here. She is always wanting to help us do something. Other elders have given him the lessons before. She wants us to start. But we have a mission plan here that some high up people came up with. The Bishop picks 15 inactive families that he wants us to start teaching, but someone in the bishopric has to stop by first and tell them that we are going to start. Well since he isnt inactive (one of the daughters is) we figured it would be okay to start.. but he wants to talk to him first. We need him to get rolling on that. There will be baptisms in these families!

We went out with a member this last week. He is sooo great. He is in the stake and always in and out of our ward. He told us he had some references for us and wanted to go with us. We figured he had been a member forever, and served a mission, and all that goes with that. Turns out he is a convert of 3 years. He worked in a casino and found a Joseph Smith pamphlet under a bottle of beer. He started to read it and heard a voice that said he needed to prepare to be baptized. He walked to the only mormon church that he knew of and talked to someone that was working in the yard. He casually asked how he could be baptized. WOW. Every missionary´s dream! There are people ready =) The Lord´s promises are sure.. live worthy and he will help us fulfill our purpose.


Why I love Argentina story:

Well, Argentina is quite a confidence booster when it comes to our looks. We always feel so...... gross and not at all like a girl. But that doesnt stop the men of Argentina. We are always getting cat (i dont know how to spell that) calls, whistles, kisses (the sound, not the real ones, except for a couple of times on accident), and even marriage proposals. This last week was all of the above. We were walking down the street when we decided to cross early to avoid one of our many boyfriends. Well he happened to be on the wrong side and tried getting us to talk to him. We kept walking as we told him we didnt have time, that we had a appointment. He realized we werent going to stay and talk so he desperately blurted that he wanted to get married with me. What!? Who does or says that? The desperates I guess. I kept walking as I tried to tell him that I was like a nun. But instead I told him I was single. I think the word that I was looking for was that Im celibate. Ha Im not even exactly sure what that means. Okay no i do know what that means, but its what a nun is and it means that i am not avaliable to get married. Im thinking that would have been a better word.. any words would have been better than ´´im single.´´ Again, I know that if the whole mission thing doesnt work out.. i still have options =)

Why I love my companion story:

We were sitting there planning at night when my companion said that her head itched. Yup, you know where this is going. We finished planning and she went to shower. Then she did a little scream/yelp. I figured there was some huge bug in the bathroom, until i remembered she said that her head itched. I went in and she asked what the tiny little bug was on her finger. Yup, my companion had/probably still has LICE. We called Hna Del Castillo and she told us to go buy stuff at the pharmacy. I bought a shampoo as a preventive treatment, she bought the hard stuff. We were up till 2 in the morning pulling little licey bugs out of her hair. I knew the mission prepared people to be married and to be parents.. but I never thought in this way. Gross. We dont have a washing machine to wash all of our stuff. We dont have a vacuum for the carpet. Pretty sure im the next victim. Great. But its different here. We went over to a member home, a nicer home. We told her we didnt want to come in because of the lice. She just told us not to worry about it, and that its really common. They didnt even battt an eye. Needless to say my hair will be up for the rest of my time here =)

Brit and Ang I got your letters! Thanks.

Karan you will have a card in the mail next week. Promise!

Okay well Im glad yall had a good time with Miss B. SOunds like she is lots of fun. Have a great week. I love yall.

Love,
Hna Payne