"The word which healeth the wounded soul" (Jacob 2:8) - January 17, 2022

Spiritual Thought 

Our mortal experience is intended to test and try us in every way.  As we travel the path of life we will inevitably face all manner of hardships and struggles.  The road of mortality is marked by sickness, heartache, transgression, temptation, betrayal, abuse, and sorrow.  It could well be said that, at one time or another, each of our souls are wounded.  Is there one of us who has not looked upon the sorrows associated with this fallen world and exclaimed, with Jeremiah of old, "Is there no balm in Gilead?" (Jeremiah 8:22)

Though this mortal journey will, of necessity, pass through refiner's fire the Savior of the World stands ready to assist any who will draw upon his aid.  He can do this because of the agonizing path he walked utterly and completely alone.  The cup placed before Him led not only through the trials we will experience but by way of a sweat-stained garden, a cruel and merciless cross, and culminated in a tomb left empty as a token of his supreme victory over all the woes associated with mortality.  I testify our Savior will eternally extend his aid to all who stand in need, though he does so with hands scarred in order to ransom a fallen world.  He is rightly referred to as the Word.  He is the word of truth, the word of hope, the word of peace, and the word of joy.  He carries with him the word of forgiveness, the word of progression, the word of healing.  He is "the word which health the wounded soul"  (Jacob 2:8).  Of this I bear my witness in his, the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update 

Hello everyone,

We were set free once more this week and I have never felt so free in my life.  The air seems cleaner, the sun brighter, and the cows more vibrant.  I am very grateful to be out of quarantine and able to work more effectively.  If nothing else, I am afraid of what would have happened if the four of us were still stuck in this basement.

We met with Marco again this week.  He told us that he was going to accept the baptismal invitation but his girlfriend was uncomfortable with it.  This opened an entirely new set of problems.  We were not aware that Marco and his girlfriend, Maria, were unmarried.  We have been working with both of them and they seem willing to be married.  However, Maria would like her family from Chile to be present and they will not be in the United States until sometime next year.  Since they are already living together we asked them if they would get married now and have a big celebration next year when her family visits.  She seemed open to that but wanted to think about it.  They also were very excited about the possibility of being sealed in the temple one year from now.  Also, Marco did not realize it could be a possibility for him to baptize his son, Max, and would like to do that himself.  As a side note, if you remember from last week I told all of you his son's name was Vicente.  Apparently that is wrong and Vicente is his cousin who lives next door.  Don't worry, we're working on teaching him as well!  Prayers for Marco and Maria would be appreciated.

The other highlight of this week was that I was able to give my first baptismal interview.  It was with a 16 year old young man named Anthony.  He was taught by another set of missionaries and was baptized on Saturday.  Anthony is from El Salvador, has only been in the United States since October, and does not speak a word of English.  It was a special experience to rely so heavily on what the spirit was saying during the interview more than on the words being spoken. 

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

With the broken fire hydrant last week.

With Elder Arce.  We happened to be at the mission office the day before he went home.  It was fun to be able to say goodbye to him.  

With Elder Gray.

I was able to play the piano for primary on Sunday.  It was a lot of fun!  The beginning for "I Am A Child of God" is different than English so that threw me off a bit!