"Lord, is it I?" (John 14:19) - February 28, 2022

Spiritual Thought

Prior to the Savior's suffering in Gethsemane he gathered the early apostles in order to give them final counsel and to institute the ordinance of the Sacrament.  The weight of the burden which would shortly be placed upon his shoulders surely must have pressed upon our Savior's mind.  He had accepted the staggering responsibility before the foundation of the world and left a Celestial home in order to fulfill his promise.  All the events of this world, past and future, are merely fleeting afterthoughts bathed in the splendor of a secluded garden, a cruel cross, and an empty tomb.

As part of this Last Supper the Savior revealed to his twelve apostles that one of them would shortly do the unthinkable: they would betray him.  Surely dread must have flooded their hearts and tears must have filled their eyes as the reality of his statement was comprehended.  One of the Special Witnesses of Christ, the very same individuals who had been taught at his feet and witnessed of his divinity, would turn their back on all that he was and deliver him into the hands of evil men.  The Savior of the World would shortly be betrayed by one of his closest friends who would reject his Master for price of a common slave.  I cannot read this account without my heart aching and longing that there had been another way.  However, the path of our Savior needed to be walked utterly and completely alone in order that he could truly descend below all things.

After the Savior stated the unfathomable to his apostles, told them of the impending betrayal, each one in turn asked the same four word question: "Lord, is it I?"  I can envision these good men looking into the eyes of their Master and, with voices choked with emotion, seeking reassurance that the betrayer was not them.  However, one of these men knew the evil plan he was about to carry out, even as he too inquired as to his innocence.  

My prayer is that you and I will also ask this same question: "Lord, is it I?"  The Savior has walked the path of betrayal once.  Now my request and sincere invitation to each of you is that he will never be abandoned by us.  We may not be able to desert our Savior to wicked men.  We can, however, desert him for other Gods.  Those things which draw our time, attention, and energy away from The Savior and His work.  As we face the trials of this mortal journey my invitation is that you and I will continually ask this question "Lord, is it I?"  That you and I will eternally be found standing with and staying faithful to our Savior is my prayer.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update

Hello everyone,

Another week is in the books.  Thank you all for the birthday wishes!  I love you all and it was great to hear from so many of you.

My email wouldn't feel right unless I started by talking about the Rosales family.  I am more impressed by them every time we visit them.  Their story and experiences are truly impressive.  I am so thankful I have not had to face the struggles they have gone through.  We are so blessed to live in a place where we are able to provide for our families and live in safety.  

The Rosales family has been reading the Book of Mormon each day more consistently than most longtime member families I know.  The entire family reads and prays about it in the morning then they each read it again individually throughout the day.  Rosa has been listening to it through headphones while she works and is in the middle of Alma right now.  She has even chosen to listen to the Book of Mormon instead of music. She sent us a text one day and said she had just listened to the story of Alma the younger and it was her favorite part.  She was so excited to talk about it! She told us she related to it because she has only sons and wants the best for them.

On Friday we were able to teach the Rosales family the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom.  At first Rosa was reluctant to say she would be willing to stop drinking coffee.  She told us that she would follow all of the Word of Wisdom except for coffee.  At that point the member who came with us bore a very powerful testimony about the Word of Wisdom.  Then he said "Would you want to deny yourselves of all the blessings of the gospel simply because you didn't want to replace coffee with hot chocolate?"  Rosa and Jesús sat for a second then said "Is hot chocolate allowed?"  We told them it was to which they responded they would be willing to replace coffee with hot chocolate.  We are so excited to watch this family continue to progress.

You may remember me talking about Elder Gray when I lived with him in November and December.  Well, he was made AP after that transfer and I was moved to my current area.  One of the nice things about the current transfer is the APs were put in my district so I get to see Elder Gray a lot more.  I was able to do exchanges with him on Saturday and it was an absolute blast!  We were able to put four people on date in his area!  It was so much fun and a great learning experience to be able to watch Elder Gray do missionary work.  He taught me so many things that I want to emulate in my own area.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

There is a replica of the Tabernacle of Moses which will be in this area soon (if you are one of the people receiving this who lives in this mission, maybe forget I said that since I'm not sure if your stake has announced it yet).  A group of missionaries was asked to help unload it last p-day.  I was able to carry the ark of the covenant!

On exchanges with Elder Kolberg.

Jesús and Alejandro came to mutual this week.  The activity was decorating cakes as different scripture stories.  We gave their team a little help with Jonah and the whale.  Please notice several elements: the lightning, both the sky and ocean, an action figure in the whale's mouth, and the Reese's Pieces eye (my biggest contribution).

With Elder Gray

Looking intimidating with Elder Gray.  Satan, if I were you I'd just give up now.

The view from Elder Gray's area.  You can see all the way to Salt Lake and if you zoom in to my right you can see the Layton temple.

The AP laptop.  This has access to YouTube.  Enough said.

We gave the Rosales family a giant thing of Stephen's hot chocolate mix and told them it was their new coffee.  Rosa found it very funny and wanted a picture with it.

One of the families in our ward, the Angaritas, invited us over for Arrepas last night.  Hermana Angarita was so concerned when she found out I didn't have any plans for my birthday.  Their daughter on my right in the picture is the funniest eight year old I've ever met.  She told Elder Morse that he looked like the Cheetoh Kid who licks Cheetohs then gives them to people.  She told me I'm going to be a McDonald's employee who really loves his job and is nice to people so they'll give me lots of raises.  I'm going to seem more like a Chick-fil-A employee so they will eventually recruit me.  If you're going to work fast food your entire life why not be the best at it!