Monday, October 31, 2011

Hola familia!!! Its me again, Hna Payne! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this last week was back to normal. We are just two again, which is nice. That week was a little long, but this last week flew by soooo fast. I know that this week will go even faster with our conference with Elder Christofferson. We are sooooooo excited for that. We will be leaving here Friday evening in our own rented bus. Then we will be sleeping on the floor in Resistencia so that there wont be problems with getting everyone there on Saturday morning. It will be a once in a life time opportunity.

So we had 8 in church this last Sunday. And they were all good investigators too. What miracles! We are really trying to focus in the people that can be baptized... we have some great people that we are working with. Mable and her daughter listened to the missionaries not tooo long ago. They quit going about a year ago when she had some health problems going on. She knows that its true... she just has big doubts that she can endure to the end. I can only imagine. She also has to get married. That means that her husband has to go to Paraguay to get his documents so they can get married. That will cost them a few hundred pesos... and they are a very humble family.

Then we have Ramona, her daughter Lorena, and their neighbor girl Natalia. Loreana has a date to be baptized. We taught Lorena and Natalia the law of chastity (for the first time, and Ramona for the 2nd). The girls are 14 and 16. They said they really liked the lesson. Im pretty sure they thought it was kind of weird because they said that no one lives this in todays time..... (and especially here). President said that when he served here in argentina that it was very rare to find someone that wasnt married... and if you did it was because they were married to someone else and couldnt divorce... Wow, have times changed. Now its so rare to find someone actually married. The girls said they really liked the lesson. We dont have a date with Natalia because her dad wont allow her mom to come... so lame. but she is sooo great. She likes to read and ALWAYS reads what we leave her. I think she would like Personal Progress.

Then there is Miguel. He is married (but not really) to a member, and we eat with her mom on Fridays. I just love this family. They are all so great. He is just now warming up to the church. He knows a lot about the church because all the missionaries have passed by.. but i think he is being prepared. His brother in law is about to receive the Priesthood here in November and he said that its his goal to baptize him.. so naturally, we want to help him meet his goal =) we have a family home evening with them tonight. We will be eating bbq... ehh we ate soo much for pday...

Then there was a girl that Hna Juarez told me about that was about to be baptized but then didnt.... she was at church too! She is dating a less active guy...so yea we have some good people that we are working with. We told Ramona to pray about her decision. We taught the plan of salvation and told her there was no getting to the Celestial Kingdom with out this baptism. Maybe she will get the courage to leave her bum of a marido.

okay well, that is about all. thank you for alll you do!!! I love yall soo much!

Love,
Hna Payne

Monday, October 24, 2011

Hola Familia, its me again, Hna Payne!!!!!!

This week has been such a crazy blur. It was transfers and I got transferred, AGAIN!!!!! Okay, jk. Im still here in Lavalle with the Hna Hunt...... and Hna Juarez (my last compa). We thought we were going to get away with out any drama this transfer... but that was sure wrong. The ZLs called us to come get a missionary that was waiting for a mini. While she was with us we had about three floods in our apt. Okay, im being a little dramatic, but our toilet kept leaking, our dueƱo kept fixing it, and then something would happen and it would start running again. The water kept running into our room. What a mess. During all of that there were other missionaries calling us to go to the place where people get their birth certificates so they can get married. The missionaries are more than an hour away, but they had an investigator that is from here, that wanted to get married this last friday , and baptized saturday.... and then the people coudlnt find her history. Well then that missionary left at like 530 the next morning and then the ZLs called us to go get Hna Juarez that night in the terminal and that we were going to be a trio for like a week. Well, im super excited that its the Hna Juarez, but three-somes are just a pain. I think everyone thinks we are J-Dubs because we are a small group now. The assistants now told us we have to be in here area every other day. Ehhhh PAIN!!!!! We wont get anything done. But luckily we found a member that is somewhat willing to do splits with her for like a week. So we will have studies until 12 and then she will go with this girl and come back at night. im sure we will still lose time in all of this. Booooo! Hopefully they will find a mini ASAP! Im not complaining... just stating the obvious =)

Well, we thought we had a miracle this last week. We went to teach the law of chastity to Ramona this week. We explained everything and asked her if she and her bf had thought about getting married. She just casually explained that she couldnt sleep the night before and turned to him and asked him if he wanted to marry her, and he said yes. Haha i think our mouths dropped. We asked if he was really awake when she asked him.. She said yes, and that he wasnt drunk either. We had been worried about her husband not wanting to get married, and then she told us about the night before. We were pretty sure that that had never happened before... so then we were like well we need to get started on pre reqs.. and asked if her bf was really meaning it like NOW, and not in like 10 years. She said she was going to ask him again. That is where the sad news comes in. He said NO. We were all so sad. We went by on Saturday and her daughter said she wasnt able to have the lesson because she was arguing with her bf. She came to church on Sunday really sad. They were arguing about his drinking and drug habits. Sooo sad. She is just soooo great and he is a bum that tries to run from his problems. He has some hurt from a kid because his dad was never there... and well he is doing the same thing to his little 6 year old. He has got to break the cycle! Its soo sad. But we explained a little about priesthood blessings and asked if she would like one. She of course accepted. We have another lesson with her tomorrow.

We also found George, through the familia Rotela (matias, that cant be baptized, and his dad). George is an alcoholic. Im not really sure how to teach an alcoholic when they arent all there to understand and feel the spirit. He has ruined his life and his family. None of his kids want to be around him. He has tried killing himself before. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can heal any wound, but if he doesnt have a support system or the will to do it... well... I am just soo thankful for the gospel that we have and the commandments that we have been given. We have the word of wisdom to just completely avoid these kinds of problems. If you dont drink, its quite impossible to become an alcoholic. Our Heavenly Father has given us every commandment for our protection. Maybe we cant understand the pain that could come from these things, but he does. We have to trust in Him and the commandments that he has given us.

Okay well, sorry that was a really scattered letter... but I love, love, love yall! Have a great week.

Love,
Hna Payne

Daddy!!! You cant tell me how sick you are about this other guy.. it makes me sad. But you cant change that it is happening... so you cant stress out about it... and besides your bbq is WAY better!

EVERYONE GO AND EAT AT BIG ALS TEXAS BBQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Hola familia, its me again, Hna Payne!!!!!!!

So, mom i have to start of by wishing you a late happy mothers day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday was the dia de la madre. sorry i forgot to tell you before. It was such a beautiful day. It really did feel like mothers day in the states. It was a harder day to get people to church for this reason... but we did have 4. All of the women that we are working with ARE´NT married and their husbands are super machistas. I dont know what word to use in english... but they dont let women do anything and they are always in control... They just tell them they cant go to church.. and they do it. Who has that authority to tell someone that they cant go to church or grow closer to God? It makes me soooooo sad. But Mabel was at church. She has had the lessons before and assisted for months and then just didnt go one day. She isnt married, and doesnt really want to get married, her bf doesnt want to either.. They have 3 kids. But he at least doesnt care if goes to church. He just doesnt really want to go. I think we can get somewhere with their family. Ramona was going to go with us to the relief society conference. Her husband said it was fine.. and then right after he changed his mind. We got to her house and she told us she couldnt go... LAME. And then she said she would be going to church either way the next day. Well that didnt happen. Not sure why.... we wanted to watch together forever with her family but her husband didnt want to because he gets home at like 8 at night and is tired. Hopefully this week!

We had interviews this last week with President. The shortest interview ever.. he talked about the opportunity we have to be with of the 12 Apostles. He gave all the stats of the church in the whole world and that as the church continues to grow that the opportunities will become less and less. We are all very excited. My compa and I were the last interviews with another companionship of sisters. Just jokingly, but secretly wishing, i asked if we were all going to lunch after.... he said it might be a possibility but he wasnt promising anything.. but said that his wife was a real softy. Well, she of course loved the idea. We got pizza and eat down by the coast. I just love them, and that was before pizza. They are soooo great. They really are about trying to do what they can to help us. Its so weird to have interviews with both Presidents and feel that they really knew and know me. That cant be too easy with 200 missionaries.

Dad! YOU CANT GET ANYWHERE WITH OUT DREAMING!!!!!! I cant believe you open this week! Good luck, and break a leg... and dont stress out. Enjoy it. It will be a hit!

Okay well, I love, love, love yall! Have a great week!

Love,
Hna Payne

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Hola familia, its me again, Hna Payne!

How goes life on the home front?? Starting to cool down, huh! Its starting to get toasty here... well just a few days and then a cool front comes in and it rains. Well, today is our pday because yesterdsay was a holiday. We had a family home evening last night with one of our investigators, Ramona, that is really progressing... minus that she isnt married. We watched the Testaments. Such a good movie! Its now like the 100th time that i have seen it now. But she really, really liked it. She said that she is going to keep coming to church. Her daughter came too. Now we are just missing the bf and the 14 year old boy. She is just soooooo great and so humble. She is soo prepared for the gospel. We had 7 in church on Sunday. Definitely a good day. We had a mom (not married) that walked to church with her three kids because she didnt have money for the bus. Such sacrifices! I just want a little bus or van to go around and get all the families that dont have a way to get to church with out walking really far.... even a horse and buggy would be fine (there are quite a lot here) :) We are working with a guy named Gaston... he is a little odd, but really great... we think. We arent exactly sure if he is interested in our message.... or us. We choosing to think positively and we really do think he is interested. He has never been baptized so he knows he needs to do it. He keeps telling us that he is going to get some big calling in the church and be in front of everyone. Haha we tried to explain how all of that works but im not sure it sunk in.

So we found out that we have a conference the 5th of November for ALL of our mission. Elder Christofferson is coming. What a treat. We are definitely excited for that.

Mom, how can you miss the younger years. It just gets better with every year! Always new experiences! And now we have Brecken, and soon to be Quinn! Life is good!

okay well i dont have anything else to write... im soooo sorrry. I love, love, love, yall! Have a great week, and good luck with training and the store!

Love,
Hna Payne

Monday, October 3, 2011

Hola familia is me again, Hna Payne!!!!!!!

I just love, love, love conference. I hate waiting to get the magazine to read all the talks. I remember liking them but then to remember what they said is a different story. I really liked Elder Eyrings talk and the being living testimonies in all times and how he used examples from Book of Mormon heros. Why does it have to be so hard to change? But I was reading another confernece talk the other day that says it doesnt matter how hard we try to make the gospel complicated, its easy. We know exactly the things that we should be doing... its just overcoming our natural nature and really making Christ the center of our lives. When we do that the decisions become soo much easier and we remember exactly who we are and why we are here. We just need to make the decison to do it and move on, and stop thinking about it.

We found Ramona and her daughter this last week and Ramona, the mom, came! We found her on Wednesday and told her we were coming back either the next day or friday depending on when a member could go with us. She talked to her husband (but they arent married. Do we just call them boyfriend in english? We use another word here that usually differentiates the difference in spanish) about going to conference and he wasnt too thrilled about the idea, but then she just told him that she was going because she wanted move on and change her family. She really liked it! Well of course she did. How can you not listen to conference and know that these people are called of God? We have another lesson with her today.

During the break of sessions I saw Tyler in vocal point on tv. Does he ever stop by these days? I saw Mckay too, but i dont think yall know him?

I cant believe we are in october! (they dont celebrate Halloween here mom) I feel like we are in May. I always have to stop and think about what month we are currently in. We got a little cool front the other day so today is really nice. But it is definitely starting to warm up here. Its soo weird to be back in humidity and to be sticky. President Heyman approved all the apts to have air conditioning now... so that will be a blessing to everyone.

That is sooo great that your store is about to open. Im excited to hear the news. HOw are they advertising this??

Hna Jones! How is the new DRAFT program going for trainers and new missionaries?? are yall doing that too? Two hours everyday??

Okay well that is all i have for now. Thank you all for all you do for me. I love, love, love yall! Have a great week!

Love,
Hna Payne