February 24, 2014

Elder Paynter, Elder Rojas, Elder Cochran, and Elder Sanio.

     "It's our home, yeah we share it together. So much fun! And we have to paint soon too ha ha so it'll change buts it’s a blast. We have a lime tree in the back too so we have limeade every morning. I want to plant a lime tree at home." 

Elder Paynter and Elder Liesmann

     This week was wonderful and although we didn't have the greatest number of people in church, we saw plenty of miracles and had a great time. 

     Well I am super jealous of you and Dad, I am just so excited to get to know my niece and hold her for the first time. If she will let me!

     I just got done studying "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and wow. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for you and dad. For the examples that you have been in honoring your covenants with the Lord and with one another and for all of the love you two have given our family. I couldn't hold back some tears while I thought about how blessed I am to have the most wonderful parents in the world, and I don’t know why I am so lucky or why God let me be your son but I thank him every day and every night for allowing me to be raised by you and dad. I absolutely love you two and hope one day I can find a wife like you mom, and be a father like dad. I love you both so much, and hope you have such an amazing week full of happiness and miracles. I am sorry this is so short but I got to run soon! I love you so much mom! Thanks for everything!

Dad,

Thanks so much for the email. There’s nothing better than to hear from paps. Well this week was the craziest most unorganized week of my mission, and therefore it wasn't the best but it still went well and now that we had a little time to plan and organize this coming week it will be pretty good! We had to leave to the Campinas for what we thought would be our mission tour, but turns out it was Elder Evans and his wife giving us a three hour talk. In three to four weeks we will have our mission tour. Elder Evans is the executive leader of missionary department for the church. Pretty close to the 12. And he had his wife speak first, and guess what she spoke about? Marriage, guess what he spoke about? Marriage. Guess how many missionaries were trunky after that talk. All of Missão Brasil Campinas. I even think President Perrotti got trunky. Ha-ha just kidding. But his wife told an awesome story and said how she believes that us missionaries knew our mission presidents before we came on earth and we made a pact with them to work hard together to build the kingdom of God. It was really cool, and Elder Evans talked about how we have a Heavenly Mother and the importance of working with families and helping them to get to the temple, not just to baptism. It was pretty cool stuff, but yeah there was a lot of cheesy marriage stuff that isn’t too motivating for missionaries who can’t even think about marriage for a while. Ha-ha He told a story about how he was at a fireside and Elder Scott the apostle was speaking and he asked Elder Evans how long it took him to get married after he came home from the mission, Elder Evans said three months. Elder Scott got mad at him for taking so long because Elder Scott got married seven days after he got home. 

So we had spent a lot of time in Campinas this week and unfortunately that lady's baptism fell through and yeah. It was pretty sad to hear. But we did our best and she is well aware of what that means for her. 

     We got home Wednesday night from Campinas and worked with a lot of appointments that had fallen through. Then we got a call that an area in our zone needed an interview, so we spent Friday night and Saturday morning out of our area to do an interview, and it was a pretty cool experience. It was a girl that was fourteen and she had an awesome testimony of the church, and we went and visited a recent convert in the area too and her conversion story was incredible. She was sick for seven months and doctors didn’t know what to do with her, she could only eat steamed vegetables with a tiny bit of salt and an apple without the skin. But the missionaries gave her a blessing and the very second it ended she was cured and went and ate normal food and the doctors didn’t believe her when she told them it had gone away. They doctors ran the exams and she was cured. It was really cool.

     Then we came back home and worked really hard on Saturday but it we didn’t have too much luck. We had no investigators in church on Sunday too, but we decided to cut our investigators that weren’t progressing and we have some great plans this week. Three family home evenings, and tonight I am cooking tapioca for everyone! So it’s going to be great! This week was excellent and I was able to see so many miracles Dad. Thanks so much for all you do for me and for the email! I love you so so much! Have a great week and be so safe ok!

Elder Paynter

February 17, 2014

Hey Dad,

Well this week has been full of wonderful miracles. I really was quite relieved to get my comp out of here to tell the truth. I know it’s kind of wrong, but the Lord, President Perrotti, and I have great expectations for the kingdom of God here and it’s really hard to babysit and take care of everything else. That’s why Ashley gave Alaynna to you guys while she works. Ha-ha. Well president is really inspired and realized I was really stressed out, so without saying anything to him, he ended up sending me an awesome comp who has been such a great example and works really hard. I am so happy and so so so blessed. 

Ashley sent me a great email, it was so good to hear from her.

It’s been pretty crazy how quick time has been going, last transfer was tough but it passed by really quickly. Well Dad, this last week when I went to Campinas to help out with the transfers, I had a lot of free time on Tuesday night so I decided to go to my last area to visit some investigators that I had left behind, one that got baptized, and the other that was just hanging on the line. We went and taught the one hanging on the line, and the other missionaries had tried everything with her. I just remember that the Holy Ghost had guided me to a scripture that I had skimmed over the other week. It was Alma 5:45-46. And we got there, asked her a few questions, and challenged her to fast on Thursday. She was a little taken back but accepted, and she sent me an email today, she decided to get baptized!!!!! We are going to Campinas this Wednesday for our spring mission tour, and after, I will be going to perform the baptism! I can’t tell you how happy I am for the blessings that I have received this week and the help that God has given me. This Sunday, it was raining but miraculously got six investigators to church.

 President came to watch the meetings in our branch and after he had a meeting with the church leaders here. After which he interviewed us. Each time that we have interview with president he follows the exact same routine with each missionary, "How are you elder? How is your health? Do you have any problems with any rules or commandments?" and the interviews normally last about five minutes. The other three elders here passed through the routine, but this time when he called me and we sat down, he just said, “Hey elder, tell me what’s going on.” And we talked for an hour, it was the greatest thing ever for me. I have felt so stressed out because we are having the results that we need, and I have wondered so much lately why I am even a leader. Without saying any of this to him, he answered my questions. He said that the leaders of the District and the branch absolutely love the work that we have been accomplishing here. He said they just said tons of good things about us for ten minutes straight without him asking how we were. It was such a big blessing to hear such words. The Lord answered my long said prayers this week, and we have seen so many miracles in such little time. I am so excited for this next week, and especially for this Wednesday.

Dad, thanks so so much for your example, your prayers and your love. I can’t tell you how much you have helped me. Now it’s just a lot of hard work and smooth sailing. I love you so much dad. Have a great safe week.

Elder Paynter

Alma 5:45-46

And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

Behold, I say unto  you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by His Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

February 10, 2014

Hey Mom,

     I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. I can’t imagine how it is for you, and here I am fine. Thankfully that same comfort that the gospel gave me is what I am trying to give to these people here. I sure will miss her though, I was really hoping to get a last moment with her when I got back. Kaique saw the notice on facebook and gave me a call on Wednesday and talked with me for a bit. That’s how I found out, it was pretty sad but I just kept thinking about all of the times that she kept commenting about Grandpa and about how much she missed him. I am sure they are both so very happy right now to be reunited once again. The story about Ruth just confirms what it says in Matthew 6. God counts the hairs on our heads and that very moment that she passed away was the time that God had planned to send her home. She has been such a blessing to all of us and will be missed. Mom, I wish I could give you the biggest hug and be with you at this time. It’s so sad to see my happy family without smiles in a photo. I know this week has been hard, I am so proud of you mom for how you are doing and I am so grateful for all you do for me here. The casket is darling and is Grandma's style. She must be happy with how it all went. 

     Well Mumsy, I hope you know I love you dearly. This week was full of wonderful miracles and I credit it to Grandma helping me out. I love you so much and have such a happy great week. Your parents are reunited again and now they are taking care of all of us. I love you so much Mom.

Sunsy

Hey Dad,

       I am glad to hear that she went peacefully.  

     This week was pretty well, a lot of miracles happened this week. This last p day we went to the house of some members and it reminded me of the cabin. They live way up in these tall hills with no one else, they had a bunch of fruit trees of every sort and it was pretty cool to see it all there. It is a couple that are about the age of you and mom and they weren't able to have kids so they take really good care of us. They are some really nice people. They did a huge bbq for us and we came home rolling on our stomachs. Then we went to a family, the kids are members but the parents aren't. They gave us more food and wow it was tough to get it down because I was still destroyed from the bbq. It was cool, the dad is a dentist and he and I got along pretty well.

     We started going out to grab a bus this week too to go to lunch and while we were going there, I heard some crappy Portuguese, and looked over and there was a really white guy, and he seemed lost. Well he was a doctor from Switzerland and he will be moving to Pouso Alegre in two weeks and we helped him find his way around and he gave us his email and said he wants to visit our church and we will be teaching him when he gets back!!!! It was such a miracle, I know that God planned it all so we could meet. He was lost and we just happened to leave at that time. My heart was just full of gratitude for such a blessing.

     We had also found lots of investigators this week, a huge family and the majority of them didn't really want anything other than friendship but we went one day and another daughter was there and she gave us her address and told us that she wanted to be baptized really badly, without us even talking to her. She is a mother of three and is married!!!! Which is crazy!!!!!! So we invited them all to an activity that we threw this week at the church, it was pizza night and we played Pictionary! Everyone loved it and we had such a good turnout. Me and Elder Rojas, my buddy from Chile, we helped make the pizzas before the activity. We made 360 mini pizzas. I felt cool. ha-ha at the end of the activity we went to give some pizza to the dentist who didn't come to the activity and they were having a bbq there in his house so we gave him the pizza, ate some bbq and talked more before running home. It was a really fun time, a moment that I will always remember. It’s so nice to just relax and talk to people as a person every now and then.

     Sunday, we had so many people who committed to church, but as usual the Sunday morning sickness came around a lot stayed home but in the end we had five investigators. The church was full with all of the less actives we got there too. It was just a time to be grateful. We went to lunch and then after we went to visit the dentist and his family and we spent a lot of time there waiting for the transfer call. It never came so we went home at nine and waited more. The APs finally called at eleven and I stayed, Elder Rojas stayed and our comps got sent away! We will see how everything goes this week. I have to stay a lot of time in Campinas because on Wednesday they have the leadership meeting and I will be spending the night. Just hoping we can scrape up a baptism for this Sunday! I am THIRSTAY!

Well dad I love you have a great week!

Elder Paynter

February 3, 2014

Well Dad,

     They canceled the meeting because they wanted to do it after transfers. Five zone leaders are going home this next little bit so they decided it would be better to do after.

     Well dad, I took your advice and thought a lot about fasting. I decided that I couldn’t wait until Saturday to fast so I did it on Wednesday.  The next day the AP s showed up at our house to do a surprise division with us. I was pretty tanked but excited to see that the Lord had answered my prayers.  At the end of the division one of the APs talked with me for a while and it felt god to be able to talk about things here and get a lot of feelings off of my chest. I realized that I had been pretty unexcited about the work here and it had been hurting the progress but I did another division with the elders here and it felt really good. I talked with everyone and their dog on the streets and I think some of them will be some great investigators.   

     I don’t really know what to think dad, I am so glad for the trials that I have had because they are really pushing me to the limits and I am seeing my spirituality and dedication increasing. This Sunday, in our small little branch we have an average of 80 people, but we brought five investigators to church and the other companionship brought seven. There were over 110 people at church. It was quite a site and the leadership of the ward got really emotional. We haven’t had any baptisms here unfortunately but we have had some good success in the other aspects.

      I am sorry I don’t really have much time to email today, we are going to another city to visit with a member and have a bbq.  I kept thinking a lot about your email that you sent this week. It has helped me a lot Dad. Thanks for pushing me to be better and for all of your love. I miss you tons and love you even more. Have a great week and be so safe.

Elder Paynter