"My ways are not your ways" (Isaiah 55:8) - January 3, 2021
Spiritual Thought
The distinct honor you and I possess as covenant keeping members of this church is to be involved in the work of the Lord. It is our opportunity to act as our Savior's hands as we invite our Heavenly Father's children to a higher and nobler path. Inherent with this privilege is a necessity to carry out our Savior's purposes in his own way.
Quite often our Savior's way will be different than our own ideas or opinions. We may dislike what is being asked of us or wish for a more attractive responsibility. We may even feel there are better or more beneficial paths to complete this work. However, this is not the work of man. We are not involved in some corporate or philanthropic venture. We are engaged in the work of the Savior of the World himself. We have been entrusted with the honor of being his hands and feet upon the earth. As such, his purposes must always be completed in his way. In matters of discipleship, which should be the omnipresent pursuit of our lives, the overarching refrain must always be "not my will but thine be done". If the Lord Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, could submit himself completely to the will of his Father for our sakes, then who are we to expect anything less be asked of us.
I testify that as we pursue more wholehearted and faith-filled devotion to our Savior's work the blessings of heaven will be poured down upon us. We will feel the joy which can only be received as we are on the Lord's errand. We will be a powerful tool for good. And, when the time comes in which we are brought before our Savior we will receive the sweetest welcome for which we could ever hope; "Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter though in the joy of thy Lord".
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Weekly Update
Hello everyone,
This week has been, at the same time, both incredibly eventful and painfully boring. You will remember reading (with scarcely contained excitement I am sure) about my close encounter with house arrest, or I mean quarantine. Well, man plans and God laughs. The entire Utah Layton Mission went into quarantine Friday afternoon. The MTC is having a bit of an outbreak. We had transfers on Tuesday and several new missionaries came from the MTC. Since then more and more missionaries have been testing positive. This will hopefully be over by Wednesday. What is concerning though is that the two missionaries I shared a ward with last transfer both tested positive this morning. I have had close contact with both of them so I would not be surprised if they make my entire household quarantine until next Monday. Never a dull moment (except when in quarantine when there is no shortage of dull moments).
The Lord always provides a way though. These past few days have actually been very productive. The APs, zone leaders, and district leader's have all been giving challenges to keep people motivated and working hard. Last night the APs challenged people to see how many new people to teach we could find over the phone. The mission wide goal was 50. Elder Hammer and I found six new people last night in our own area and two more we referred to other missionaries. In total the mission found over 100 new people.
My district has also been challenged to give someone a baptismal date while in quarantine. I offered to buy dinner at the restaurant of their choice for any companionship who does this. Hopefully I'm having to buy someone dinner soon!
I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Payne
My last area had a really nice gym we were able to use in a members house.
With Elder Arce.
With Elder Gray
I was given a car this transfer. Stay tuned for many more swagger filled pictures featuring a Chevy Equinox and yours truly.
With Elder Hammer during quarantine.
How I felt after making about three million phone calls.
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