May 6, 2013






May 6, 2013

Well this week was another blur. The mission passes fast in retrospect, but you live every single day. I made six months this week. So did Elder Albuquerque, and it was great to pass some laughs with him. We both looked back at our time here and shared some funny stories from the mission.
This week was great though. We ran from one end of the town to the other just about every day. We had a wonderful lunch with a less active couple and their cute 6-month-old son. It was cool to spend time with them and to see the little guy and think about how our family will be blessed with a darling little girl soon. I am super excited for you Ash and Miguel. After the lunch we asked them to bear their testimonies, and we felt the spirit so strongly. I was the last to bear my simple short and broken testimony, and when I did, the wife started crying. It was a pretty cool experience. And for the first time in a long time, they made it to church this week, and had us over for family home evening on Sunday night with Laide. We watched 17 Miracles and ate cheese bread rolls. It was wonderful. It felt great to see the changes in them in just a week. They are a great family.
Elder Albuquerque and I were walking down this street one day, I looked over and this mother and her daughter smiled at me and stared. Like half the people do here when they recognize Americans. And Elder Albuquerque asked me if I knew them. I said no. He ran back to them and did a contact with them. It was pretty funny and they said we could go back and teach them. So we went back the next day, and only saw the mother. We told her how important the things we teach are and asked if the same daughter we saw was home. She ran through the house and within a couple of minutes there were four women sitting on the couch in front of us, ready to the hear the word of God. It was pretty funny. One of them thought that my accent is so funny, she couldn't stop laughing. So I don't even teach when we go there because the spirit just falls away. But they are an excited group!
The next day we went back, and they all read, they all believe its true! We watched the Restoration DVD and one of their neighbors came over and watched it. After it all we invited all of them to baptism, including the neighbor! And they all accepted! For the first time in a long time we had tons of people at church. The testimony meeting was just incredible. It was by far the best Sunday I have had on the mission. There was just something different in the air in the branch yesterday. I felt like the Lord was pleased with our work and the work of our loving branch. It is turning more and more into Zion here, and maybe one day they will have a chapel instead of a little house. It was a great week.
Oh Elder Albuquerque and I were close to the exit dirt road to the golf course so we went to take a look at it. Twas closed..... But we found a short little trail that led to a beautiful hidden waterfall. Probably the only beautiful clear water I will ever see during the mission. It was a cool little blessing that the Lord showed it to us. I loved it all that day. This week was great and it will only get better from here on out. Have a great week everyone! I love you so much!
Elder Paynter


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