"If they are not the words of Christ, judge ye" (2 Nephi 33:11) - January 10, 2022

Spiritual Thought 

Some of the most powerful moments in scripture come as a prophet ends his record, knowing it will be his final testimony prior to his death.  One such instance is found in the last chapter of second Nephi.  In this concluding testimony Nephi proclaims "And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things".  You and I have the profound privilege of possessing further guidance from our Father in Heaven through the Book of Mormon.  However, with such a blessing comes responsibility.  The gift of the Book of Mormon can never be taken lightly.  Our responsibility is to search the lessons taught in this sacred book, then to ask God if it is true.  Such an honest inquiry will forever change the life of the person seeking a witness of this book and all it entails.  If you or I dismiss this sacred record then we do so at our own peril.  Additional instruction from our Father in Heaven can never be taken lightly.  I testify that if we sincerely desire to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and this great latter-day work then we will receive such a witness.  This is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Book of Mormon is God's word and is the net used to gather scattered Israel.  Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and, as a mere boy, saw the Savior of the World standing on the right hand of his Father.  Joseph sealed his testimony of this event, and the restoration it began, with his blood.  It is my prayer that you and I will never be content with casual testimony or passive discipleship.  My prayer is that our testimony of this work will grow so deeply within us that we too would accept a martyrs death rather before denying our witness.  May each of us commit to developing more abiding and sincere assurance of this gospel I pray.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update

Hello everyone,

Last week I told all of you about the horrific experience of being quarantined in a basement for three days.  Shortly after that email was sent our zone leaders told us we had permission to leave our basement prisons.  However, our excitement was short lived because Elder Hammer began feeling sick on Thursday and tested positive for COVID later that day.  As I write this I am once again quarantined and am waiting until at least Wednesday to possibly be set free.  At that point all four of us will be tested.  If any of us are positive we will all quarantine for another five days.  This process will continue until all four of us test negative.  

It never ceases to amaze me how nothing can stop the Lord's work from progressing.  Thus far Elder Hammer and I have found twelve new people to teach in our area over the phone.  All of these individuals could reasonably be baptized.  We also are very optimistic that we will be able to invite four people to be baptized while in quarantine.  Two of these are a man named Marco and his son Vicente.  On Friday we invited Marco to be baptized.  He said he would be baptized if Vicente would do it with him.  Marco and Vicente are praying about the decision and will give us a final answer this evening.  Prayers would be appreciated.

While teaching Marco we had one of the neatest experiences of my mission thus far.  After we read a section of the Book of Mormon the spirit was very strong and I felt prompted to ask Marco how he was feeling.  I wrote his response down exactly the way he said it.  His answer was "I am feeling something very strong.  I don't know what it is but when I read this book you gave me it always feels this way.  It's almost like I could touch it.  There is something different about you guys.  It's like you have a peace that I've never seen before, and I've gone to a lot of churches.  I'm confused at what it is but I know that I really want this feeling and I want it more every time I feel it."  It was a special opportunity to then be able to teach about the Holy Ghost and the blessings which come from baptism.

Even though there have been great things happening during quarantine there is also a lot of spare time to try to fill.  The four of us had the idea to print the latest transfer board, cut out the pictures of all the missionaries, and make our own transfer predictions.  We spent our down time the first few days working on the two Spanish zones.  Then we had the bright idea to send the picture of the completed board into our district chat and act like it was a real transfer.  The next morning I woke up to a text from President Johnson asking "what the purpose of the transfer board in my group chat was."  I then explained the mind-numbing effects of extended quarantine with three other 18-20 year old males.  Fortunately President Johnson was understanding and seemed to be more confused than irritated.  

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

Pictures of all the missionaries before we started working on the transfer board.  It looks like we decided to start collecting stamps.

Carefully considering where to place  certain missionaries on the transfer board.

The finalized transfer board.  I have to give a disclaimer.  Everything on this board was done without bias.  Each decision seemed to be the most likely decision to be made and was agreed on by all four of us.  We also called the STLs and they gave their approval to everything.  Also, the writing in the lower left corner says "On the move?" and the lower right corner says "In the hunt for ZL", in case you can't read them.  I have no idea where the miniature skateboard came from.

Elder Kolberg drinks all but about an inch of a water bottle then leaves them sitting around.  This was his desk one day.  I feel like I'm living with the girl from the movie "Signs", if you've seen that.

Sisters McCasline and Spencer are the only people in my district not in quarantine.  They brought us food one day. 

The fire hydrant by our house was pouring water into the road.  We didn't have any hot water or water pressure for over a day.