"He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30) - August 23, 2021

Spiritual Thought

Shortly after the beginning of the Savior's ministry, the followers of John the Baptist approached him with an interesting question.  In light of the increasing popularity of the Savior, these disciples of John began to be concerned about the lack of prominence their teacher now faced.  These individuals approached John the Baptist and inquired of him whether he and they should be concerned over this new teacher to whom "all men come unto".  In answer to this inquiry this great man, the one of whom it had been prophesied would "prepare the way of the coming of the Messiah," promptly replied "Ye yourselves bear witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him." (John 3:28).  Then the Baptist gave a statement that is vastly important, indeed is the defining characteristic, of a true disciple of the Master.  In summation of his previous responses, John the Baptist states with finality "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).  Such a statement marks one who is truly committed to humbling themself in sackcloth and ashes before the Savior of the World.  Such a statement epitomizes the lifelong pursuit of a true disciple.  It is the eternal cry of the Savior Himself who never once sought his own glory but that His Father might be glorified.  And it is the the mantra I ask each of us to make the hallmarks of our lives.  Any success we gain in this life should not be seen as a means of increasing our own import but of more effectively directing praise to He whom such success stems from.  As each of us prayerfully identify those things in our lives that distract others from the Savior, then remove them, we will become more like the Master.  As we decrease our focus on ourselves in our conversations with those around us we will be able to focus on our Savior and He will increase.  As we decrease in our own thoughts He will increase.  I pray that each of us will identify those things about ourselves that must decrease in order that He may increase.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

 

Weekly Update

 Hello everyone,

This past week Elder Divelbiss and I were able to follow up on many of the promising leads that we received the week before.  One of those was the ten year old boy named Mason that I talked about in the last email.  Prior to the lesson I started to worry that maybe Mason's mom wanted him to get baptized and he did not care about it himself.  While we were visiting with the family before the lesson Mason was very distracted and did not seem interested.  As we began teaching the lessons his demeanor immediately changed.  As soon as we started talking about the Gospel he was engaged and attentive to what we were saying.  We quoted Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision and the spirit in the room immediately changed.  You could see some tears well up in his eyes.  When we first mentioned the Book of Mormon he said "Oh, wait a minute, I have one of those" and went running off to grab it.  He came back and was hugging the Book of Mormon as we taught the lesson.  After we read Moroni's promise we asked him if he knew what the verses meant.  His response was "No, but I want to".  We are very excited to continue working with Mason.

We also had lessons with Amanda and Taylee.  Both of them seem very interested and we are optimistic about the situations.  We have lessons coming up soon with Conner, Ashley, and Suzanne Hansen as well as Kylah and Tim and hopefully a few more people.  We are really starting to see the fruit of our labors in this area.

We had zone conference with Elders Schmutz and Sikahema on Wednesday.  It was a great experience to be able to be taught by both of them.  During lunch I was able to sit at the same table as Elder and Sister Schmutz.  They are neat people and I loved being able to speak with them.

Transfers are tomorrow.  Everyone found out what is happening to them last night.  President Johnson is changing the direction of the mission pretty drastically.  He is increasing the number of YSA companionships from four to fourteen.  Spanish is going from 14 to 23 companionships and he is adding two Marshallese companionships.  I will be staying in my current area.  Elder Divelbiss is being moved to South Weber and is becoming district leader.  He is excited to have a new area after nine months but is very disappointed to leave when we have so many promising people we are teaching.  My new companion is Elder Marchman.  We have lived in the same house this transfer but we are now companions.  We are fairly confident (but not certain yet) that our two areas are being combined into one.  If that is the case then we will cover the entire stake as of tomorrow.  My apartment is no longer a four-man.  After today it will only be Elder Marchman and me.  I am hoping we can get to work and make big things happen over the next six weeks.

I hope all of you have a great week,

Elder Payne

Elder Divelbiss and I have been experimenting with new missionary fashion trends.  We are hoping to start a missionary version of GQ and put ourselves on the cover.  We are thinking about asking President Johnson to incorporate a fashion show into the next zone conference to show off some of our new styles.  In this picture we are modeling the T-shirt and tie look.  This style is meant for when you have service in the morning and a lesson immediately after it and aren't sure if you will have time to change back into proselyting clothes.

 

And in this one Elder Divelbiss is showing the dress-short golfer look.  This one makes the best impression if your legs are hairy.

We have been getting more rain lately.  On Thursday we had to pull out the rain jackets.

Then, on Saturday, we were in some serious rain.  This time we put our hoods on.  It was coming down hard.

This is me after we made it home on Saturday.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  My hair was soaking wet and dripping, even with having my hood on.  My pants were completely soaked and sticking to my legs.  They are still hanging in the bathroom drying.  I wish I had worn my gray pants so you could see how wet I am a little more easily.