From Sister Payne to You!

Well Hello There Family, Friends, and Fans --




Welcome to the September 20th edition of Sister Payne's missionary musings. I hope you will find this both educational and entertaining. Or at least time consuming.



First off, we had a double dip this weekend - both Clarissa and Prague were baptized! It was thoroughly enjoyable. We had the entire Haitian Coalition out in full force at Prague's baptism - lots of support. It was a good week. I'd like to have that happen more often. I have a real testimony of two things: the first, that baptisms are just the beginning. Before your mission or in the MTC you think baptisms are just it - its what its all about. Really though, when I'll be REALLY REALLY stoked is when I come back a year from now and all our converts are still active and fulfilling their callings. Second, that this is the Lord's work - not ours. We haven't done anything to find any of these people, they've all been brought to us. I'm okay with that. I'm happy to know the Lord trusts me enough to send His children my way. Prague's roommate Jean Max has a baptism date as well - for the 28th. He was at the baptism, and at church, and is really looking forward to it. Apparently, people from Jeremie Chambellan Haiti are just the coolest.



When we teach them, we have to bring a translator. We've been bringing Sis. Dauphin - an amazing woman who seriously has Emma Smith like trials. She was kidnapped on her mission in Haiti. And she was raised in a very cold adoptive family. And her husband is less active, and she had a companion who held her at knife point on her mission and ran away like seven times, and she had tons of very close friends die in the earthquake in port au paix. Through it all, she's stellarly active, has such a strong testimony, and has gone out teaching with us every single day this week. She is SO awesome. People like her are why my mission is the best mission in the world.



What else what else ... I had a bunch of killer ants attack my legs this week during a lesson. I looked like a leper. That was unfortunate. I learned that 70% of male RMs have temple marriages, whereas 5% of guys who don't serve missions have temple marriages. That was a staggering statistic. We had one promising investigator tell us that his pastor told him we're a cult and worship Joseph Smith so he refuses to meet with us now. We had another promising investigator tell us she doesn't want to meet with us anymore because "everything she wanted to know about the church she found on the internet". There is always a struggle here.



We had a great church service yesterday. Sacrament meeting was inspiring, as a young man gave a talk then his mom got up and said that up until that morning he'd told his parents he wasn't gonna talk - he refused - but that they'd been praying and they knew the Lord softened his heart that he woke up Sunday morning and said, okay ... I'm speaking. It was a really moving morning.



I've been working on increasing my charity. I really do feel like it needs to be my #1 priority at this point, and it is going to help solve a lot of the problems I've been having. Increased love for the Lord = increased love for His children = increased love for the work. As a missionary, you don't have any external motivators. At home you go to work to get paid, or you do something to be rewarded externally in some way, like go to school to get the degree. That doesn't exist out here - you need to be completely internally motivated. So I've been thinking alot how I can do that.. it seems foreign to me. But I realized my #1 internal motivator is love - the love I have for my family, for learning, for music, for those in my life - it inspires me to work hard and to pursue things. So if I can have that same passion and love, but have it more like the pure love of Christ - I can be really successful.



1 cor 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not acharity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.



Love is the answer!



Okay your commitments this week are VERY IMPORTANT. General conference is coming (I CANT WAIT). So your 1st commitment is to watch all four session (5 if you're a priesthood holder). Tivo it, do whatever you need to WATCH all of them. 2nd commitment is equally as important - write down 5 questions that you really want to know the answers to, then take notes during conference and FIND YOUR ANSWERS! I can testify from personal experience, this works. It changed the way I look at conference - it helped me so much - inspired me so much. I cannot wait for conference I'm counting down the days, because I have burning questions about my life and about the gospel and about the future that I need answers to, and I know the Lord will answer them through his servants.



Other scriptures of the week include:



1 cor 9:16 For though I preach the agospel, I have nothing to glory of: for bnecessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I cpreach not the gospel!



and Gal 1:10 For do I now apersuade men, or God? or do I seek to bplease men? for if I yet cpleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.



To go along with that, a quote:

"there is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of a missionary when he/she is preaching the gospel as the Lord that send him/her to preach to the people who are the Lord's children" - Lorenzo Snow.



Music is a must. I have written a ridiculous amount of songs and will continue to do so. We're off to the beach.



Have a great week everyone. The church is true!



<3

Sister Payne



PICTURES:

4025: sis smith's a hasidic mormon

4028: hayley the brave's motto

4034: beautiful bahamas

4053: us with clarissa

4067: us with prague

4070: sis smith doing her best robert deniro





lyrics of the week from a future album i will record that is all inspired by tv a movies called "raised on television" ;)



this one's called "you've got mail"



written 7.5.10



v1

im livin in your letters

every word puts air into my lungs

im tryin not to show it but i

wish that i could hear the words rollin' off your tongue

the keys are cold

tryin to hold my entire heart and soul

so much empty space

but all i wanna do is see your face



prechorus

growin up i always dreamed about

the kinda man id write home about



chorus

i wanted it to be you - i wanted it to be you so badly

i wanted it to be you - i wanted it to be you so badly



v2

you know what they say

enough time will wound all hearts

there's some truth anyway

the longer the time spent that we're apart

they say it never works

fallin' in love a different way

but then you still my heart and baby

i don't really care what they say



prechorus

cant wait til i finally look in your eyes

as you wipe away my tears

and tell me not to cry



chorus