"Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants it is the same" (D&C 1:38)

 Spiritual Thought

The nature of the fallen world in which we live is that our existence will be fraught with upheaval and insecurity.  Such circumstances have been prevalent since the fall of Adam and Eve and will persist until the millennial reign of Jesus Christ is ushered in.  Indeed, these experiences and trials are one of the purposes for our being in this mortal sphere.  How would it be possible for each of us to become the precious masterpiece which we are intended to become without first passing through the refiner's fire?  

Among the great consolations given to us by our Father in Heaven is men who may act as his mouthpiece upon the earth.  What a privilege it is to be led by a prophet of God in this day, President Russell M. Nelson.  I testify that this man is no less a prophet than were Moses, Isaiah, Peter, or any of the other biblical prophets.  He is the prophet chosen for our day and he speaks the will of the Lord.  It is our great opportunity and privilege to hear from the living prophet, along with the members of the quorum of the twelve apostles, in general conference this weekend.  As we participate in this sacred opportunity, may we each remember what I Heavenly Father has said in reference to his prophets: "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." (D&C 1:38).  As our prophet, President Nelson, speaks to us, may we view his words as direction for the Savior himself.  It is my prayer that during this coming general conference weekend we will be able to see the true meaning behind these semiannual gatherings.  May we come to this gathering eager to hear the word of the Lord declared unto us.  As we do so it is my testimony that our prayers for knowledge will be answered.  We will be told "in our minds and in our hearts" (D&C 8:2) how to more fully align ourselves with our Savior.  

"Come, listen to a prophet's voice, And hear the word of God." (Hymn No. 21)

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

Weekly Update

Hello everyone,

This week was both the type of week missionaries dread and pray for.  We had some disappointments and setbacks but we also had an equal number of tender mercies and answers to prayers.  Let's focus on the good things that happened this week.

One of those experiences was the opportunity to meet Alex and Talita.  They are probably 25-30 years old and have a three year old daughter, Elena.  Both Alex and Talita are from São Paulo, Brazil.  On Saturday we were knocking on doors in our own apartment complex.  We knocked on the door of one of the members to ask them a few questions and over the course of the conversation they told us that a nice Brazilian couple had moved into the apartment across from her and we should try to talk to them.  When we knocked on the door only Talita was home but she was very friendly and invited us in.  We talked with her for about thirty minutes and she said she would be very open to us coming back another time.  We found out that the ward mission leader for that ward served his mission in Brazil from 1965-1967.  Also, one of the bishopric members wife is from Brazil.  We told both of these individuals about the situation and Bro. Shirts (the ward mission leader) said that he would love to meet them.  We went back over with him last night and had a great visit where we were able to meet Alex.  Over the course of the conversation Alex told us that they used to live with a family who are members of the church.  They would do "Come, Follow Me", family scripture study, and family home evening with these individuals.  They were also able to go to the temple grounds when this family's daughter was sealed.  Alex told us that they were impressed with the peaceful feeling at the temple and would love to go inside some day.  We are very excited about Alex and Talita and have a return appointment for this Saturday.  The only problem is that we scheduled it for 10 which is exactly when the first session of general conference begins.  We are going to use that to our advantage, however, and tell them that rather than the missionaries talking to them we have the opportunity to listen to the prophet speak to and teach us.  We will hopefully watch at least the first session with Alex and Talita and we will offer to watch all five if they would like to.  It is so surprising that all three of us forgot about general conference that it was honestly probably a little bit of divine intervention in order to allow Alex and Talita this opportunity.  I may be listening to general conference in Portuguese this weekend.  Quite frankly though I am more than happy to relisten in English a little later if it means that general conference has an impact on Alex and Talita.  Please keep Alex and Talita in your prayers.

We were also able to talk to Kevin this week.  We have been trying to contact Kevin this entire transfer without any luck.  One day this week we were walking past his street just as he turned onto it.  I turned to Elder Marchman and said "this is our chance, we finally can catch him at home!".  We turned onto Kevin's street and were able to talk to him for a little while.  We have a lesson scheduled with him for this Thursday.

I have another appointment scheduled for the temple but it is not until November 12th.  That is the earliest availability with how busy the temple is.  That is in the last week of next transfer so if I get a new companion they will be pleasantly surprised when I tell them I have a temple appointment they need to join me on.  Hopefully they have one also and then maybe I will get to go twice next transfer!  At this point all temples in the United States and nearly all temples in the world are open for proxy ordinances.  Each ordinance area is being used at approximately half of capacity and every patron needs an appointment.  Please do all that you can to schedule an appointment at your temple so that you can enjoy the blessings of worshipping in the house of the Lord.

Speaking of temples.  I try to keep the nerdy side of my personality buried beneath the surface.  However, with general conference fast approaching I think it is time to let some of my nerdy tendencies come out.  For almost my entire life it has been a semiannual tradition for me to make my predictions for the top ten cities that are most like to have a temple announced.  It would be a shame to break the tradition this time and, being a missionary, I think it is appropriate to share those predictions with all of you.  That way you can hold me accountable if I am completely incorrect.  Here are my top ten predictions, in no particular order:

1 - Ulaanbaatar Mongolia

2 - Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo

3 - Monrovia Liberia

4 - Antananarivo Madagascar (there was absolutely no bias that contributed to this prediction)

5 - La Paz, Bolivia

6 - Iquitos Peru

7 - Charlotte North Carolina

8 - Colorado Springs Colorado

9 - Tacoma Washington

10 - Heber Utah

I hope you all have a great week and a spiritual feast during general conference.

Elder Payne

 

We started riding the bus this week.  Now that I have ridden public transportation I am a true missionary.  It's a far cry from the Madagascar buses though.  Frankly I don't know why we are in the district we are in because we are so far away from everyone else.  This makes getting to district council a pain but the bus helps a lot.  We can also ride it to zone conference, the mission office, or the temple when we need to.  This bus also leaves the mission and goes to Ogden or Salt Lake...just kidding!

We saw the front runner while waiting for the bus to pick us up.  There is no need to ride front runner since I believe the next stop is out of the mission.  It was still fun to see though.

Fall decided to arrive this week.  The trees are starting to change colors.  This isn't the best picture of the mountains so but you can see that some of the trees have started to change.  I will try to get a better picture this week.

We did a free car wash on Saturday to try to talk to some new people.  The Spanish elders joined us.  From L-R: Elder Marchman, Elder Roland, Elder Casares, Me.

There were a few times this week when I felt like I needed to very seriously study the "coping with stress" sections in "Adjusting to Missionary Life".