sak pa se?

Enjoy the pix:


the way I feel when I'm sick, and the stuff I had to take to ease the pain.

Kobe Bryant's got nothin' on me.

From L to R - Elder Tanner, Elder Martinez, Elder Sizemore, me and Sister Smith on ZC day.



Greetings Family, Friends, and Fans --

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY [yesterday]!

I can't believe June is almost over. On a mission the days crawl, the weeks fly by, and the months disappear. Whew. Well this might be the most scattered e-mail of all time but I'll try to do my best, as always, to enlighten and entertain. Mwen parle pitit Creole, by the way -- and I'm learning more everyday.

First off, I've been told twice this week that I look like Celine Dion. The people here love Celine Dion so I find that to be an extreme compliment. After all, I AM the best singer in the world. Psych ;) We've been getting lots of referrals which is nice and so much more productive that just street contacting. I had the wonderful opportunity to speak in church yesterday. I talked about "finding an anchor for your faith" -- the one thing that you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, so when the storms blow the ship that is your testimony will not move with the waves because you will be anchored down. I shared how Joseph Smith is my anchor, and a sister told me afterward that my talk was "really powerful". What more could you ask for?



I got sick this last week, with a cold that I believe I caught from Elder Emery who had been in from Freeport for the Zone Conference. I was only around him for like five seconds, so that's depressing that my immune system is really that poor. But it knocked me to my feet for a solid two days, but I'm on the mend. Speaking of zone conference, we had such a great time! I got to meet President Hendricks and his wife and we had a great meeting, a sweet interview, and an overall productive, educational and enjoyable day. Plus I got mail! So that was exciting! I love mail.



So it cracks me up that everyone back home is getting engaged, and I've heard about it from three sources now, except for the actual parties who themselves are engaged. I guess that's the laziness of facebook these days. "I'll just post it as my status and that missionary out in the Caribbean will hear about it from someone else." So it goes. Congrats to all of you, you know who you are. If you're not engaged, congrats on that too, lol.



So people we're teaching. Melanie, our golden investigator, is going to be baptized on Saturday night. Can't wait! You know when you teach someone out here who has no law of chastity or word of wisdom concerns that they are golden and the Lord has been preparing them. She keeps EVERY commitment! We also picked up a former investigator, Harold. He's a Jamaican, and he came to church on Sunday. He's got some stuff to repent of but met with the branch president and has a great desire. He loves the church - he told us he's been to all the churches but he "never felt right about any of them" until he found this one. He said he "feels a warmth and a peace when he comes to church". You gotta love that, right? We extended a date to him, and he's gonna pray about it. We're also teaching Jay, an electrician who loves to debate. Once he's humbled a little bit he'll really become a great person to teach and a great servant of the Lord. That's my hope.



I've realized that I have great potential, and so do the people we're teaching. They all have the potential to be like God! So who cares where they are now ... it is all about where they are going. Allow me to talk briefly about the principle of perfection. Everyday I've been trying to be perfect at one thing. It really has been a good experience for me! You can't ever be perfect, but everyday if you're perfect at something it makes it easier to be good at it the next day while you're working on being perfect at something else. Speaking of perfection, I haven't missed a morning or evening prayer in three months and I've written in my journal every night since I've been on my mission. That's two things that I have a goal to be perfect at throughout my entire mission!



We've been getting fed lots of dinner. I had conch chowder the other night, and crab rice. We have a lot of seafood on the horizon also -- it isn't bad once I get past the smell. The miracle of a mission is that I'm able to get that stuff down, I'm serious. But we do get fed a lot of excellent meals and we'll get another one tonight! Can't wait. The Etiennes are a great RC couple from Haiti who fed us some delicious Haitian dinner the other night. I love those two -- we had a long talk about Michael Jackson, and about the second coming, and about me visiting Haiti and them visiting the west coast in the US. It is really easy to have charity and love for such wonderful, humble, hilarious, and loving people. Anytime I tell brother Etienne "sak pa se?" which means "what's up?" his face just lights up. Cool cool people, man. Seriously.



Alright -- is there any questions people have for me? I just ramble and I feel like maybe I haven't been talking about what people want to hear about. So feel free to let me know. I'm gonna finish the doctrine and covenants tonight (I'm on section 134). WHEW. It's so amazing!! I'm loving every minute of reading it -- it's like I'm reading it for the first time.

D&C 127:2

WHOA!

Alright I've gotta get going. All my love to all who are reading.

Oh I almost forgot - YOUR COMMITMENT! Are you ready? I don't know how many people actually keep these commitments, but whatever it's off my shoulders if you don't, haha. Your commitment this week is to live missionary schedule all week. Okay, not as strict as a missionary but these are the guidelines:

Rise no later than 6:30am

Retire no later than 10:30pm

Exercise for 20-30 minutes every day

Have gospel study for 1 hour everyday

and DONT WATCH TV!!!

That's like the word of wisdom y'all - adapted to the capacity of the weakest of the weak. DO IT. DO IT DO IT. Then report. What was it like? Get a taste of what it is like to be a missionary, even if you're an RM. Be reminded of it. Trust me - ITS A BLESSING!

Alright, au revoir!
xx`

Sister Payne



more lyrics? here ya go.



"LUCY"

(i wrote this about the town of Lucea. i dunno if i told you or not but it is affirmative the branch was shut down there after we left. it merged with the negril and montego bay branches. depressing.)

v1

lucy i can see you lookin up to me

beggin' me you're plaguin' me can't you see

you can only get so hot, yeah before you burn

sure i can teach ya but ya gotta wanna learn



chorus

lucy lucy lucy you're a little girl - not so innocent as you show the world

are you ready ready ready i'mma change your mind

put your hand in mine - this is your time to shine



v2

miracles can happen in the smallest towns

but there's been nothin' but trouble since you came around

and i'm ready set to start but will you ever believe

i'm not out here for my health

i'm here to set you free

chorus

instrumental bridge

chorus x2
outro

lucy lucy lucy will you ever believe

i'm out here on a mission to set you free