Monday, November 27, 2017

Big plans for Epinal

Bonjour à tous,

Well what a fun week this has been! Beaucoup de finding! (There's a little French for ya - it means 'a lot of finding'). We found that since no one is on the streets ever here in Épinal, we have to do a lot of door to door. So we have been doing that every day. Small ville life is very different from the life I am used to. We find ourselves with a lot of time in between plans day to day, so it has been difficult to find things that are productive to do. But we have big plans for this little town!

Since Christmas is rolling around, there is literally no better time of year than now to start getting people back to church! And here in Épinal, we have a ton of people who have not been to church for a long time! So we decided that the main work here in Épinal is to find the less active members, so we plan to visit every member on our lists (and yes that is plural "lists"). And bring them a little Christmas cheer with some cookies and an invitation! We are going to try to fill our little church to the brim this Christmas! So we are really excited for that, it will be hard, but worth it. 

I have also been losing some weight here in Épinal, we don't eat as good as my other places and we do a lot more walking, so you know 2+2=weight loss. But it's not too bad so far, I don't have an accurate number for you all but right now I weigh about 152 lbs. Maybe I will start putting exercise is my free time!

I did have a thanksgiving dinner with the district this past Wednesday. It was really good.

It is getting cold here. Yesterday it snowed a little. I am going to try to buy more thermals today and possibly some glove liners. Because this is just the start of winter in Épinal. It will get much colder. At least we have our electricity back so it's warm in our apartment.

I have been teaching myself how to play piano! Because I am the one playing piano at church. I always wanted to, but now I have the motivation! So I have learned some simple hymns with only right hand. And I just downloaded a piano manual from lds.org. So hopefully by the time I get home, I will be pretty good! It's something I enjoy and I find some peace in playing the piano.

Today for p-day, we went to a cool war torn castle! Got some cool pictures there that I will attach!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission




Elder Payne and Elder Anderson


Epic Elder Payne

Monday, November 20, 2017

Unexpected Transfer to Epinal

Bonjour à tous,

Wow! This has been a crazy week!!! So first of all, I got 'midnighted'. Which means that I got a call from the assistants of the president randomly a couple of days ago and they said that president has been doing a lot of praying and decided that the Lord needs me to be in Épinal. I am now half training an Elder named Elder Anderson. Don't worry, nothing happened in Amiens and there are still elders in Amiens. I honestly had no clue why I was leaving until I actually got into Épinal. To explain Épinal a little bit, it's a tiny town (big ville streak lost). It is in the Eastern mountains, which means it's beginning to get pretty cold here. The branch is about 20 people.

I am excited for these next transfers because 1:I am training. 2:there is a lot of work to do here. I really feel like I was meant to come here. The branch is super nice!!

The first morning that I was here, the power went out. That was extremely stressful for me and we had a ton to do today. But we got it all done. With the power, we had no power through all last night, so it was really cold in our apartment. Then today we went to the store and bought a new fuse. Came back and it still didn't work! I was mad. So we went shopping for groceries after calling the mission office with our problem. We came back with our groceries and put all of our food in the church refrigerator. Oh and by the way,f we live right above the church building. So if all else failed, we were just going to spend the night in the church because it still had power. While doing some emails, I remembered that one of my companions (Elder McCrea) had served here. So I called him and told him about our problem and asked where the power box is. He told me where it was and I went and looked, and our power was completely shut off! I don't even know why! So I turned it back on and we went and checked the apartment, and BOOM! All the power was back on! We said a quick prayer of gratitude and went on with our day. Moral of the story, rely on the Lord and have faith, and he will sustain you in life.

So yeah, that was crazy. But now that we have all of that figured out, we can focus on the missionary work here. We have big plans for this place.




In Épinal, the trains here are a problem. The closest ville to us that we will need to go to is 1 hour away, but here's the thing, to get anywhere else out of our sector, we have to go through Nancy, the ville 1 hour away. So to Paris, 3-4 hours direct. To Strasbourg about 2 1/2 hours. And all of our members live far away, like a 1-2 hour bus ride away. So traveling is life here.

Also if anyone is going to send me anything, I have a new address.

Les Missionnaires
28 Rue de Bellevue, 88000
Epinal, France

I will start taking pictures of this place this week. Because I have nothing to send picture wise. But I love you all and I hope you are doing well!

Sincerely
Elder Payne
France, Paris Mission

Monday, November 13, 2017

New Missionary Companion and a Little Sight Seeing

Bonjour à tous,

Well this week in Amiens was crazy, and busy and fun, and I saw some miracles!

To start off, my new companion is a guy named Elder Christensen. He is from Utah. He is three transfers away from going home, so it's possible that I will be his last companion. But me and him get along really well. We joke all the time, but he is also a hard worker, so he's great. 

I am going to share the fun stuff first to get it out of the way. Today we went to the Amiens cathedral, which is the biggest one in France according to area. And we actually got to go to the top of the cathedral with a guide. It was pretty cool, although my thighs hurt because the only way up is by a long flight of really steep spiral staircases. So that was quite the workout. I will attach some pictures.

I don't have a lot of time, but here is the cool miracle.

Before elder Merritt left, we had a lot to do on Tuesday to get him ready, so we were all over town. And while walking from place to place, we by chance met all of the classic people on the street that he wanted to see! A crazy guy that calls himself the prophet, a potential ami that we lost contact with, and a recent convert that he baptized and really wanted to see before he left! All by chance or miracle! And we found a new ami! We were coming off of the bus and this guy followed us off, and he stopped us and asked us who we serve. We said that we serve Jesus Christ. He asked us where we pray, we answered that we believe that we can pray anywhere we like and it doesn't require a special place. He explained to us that his entire life was recently taken from him and that he had nothing and that he needed to pray. So he wanted to know about us and we shared a scripture from Alma with him about the atonement. He really liked it and we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon! We took his number and he said that he wants to meet in the future! We have a rendez-vous set up later this week!!

The Lord prepared him, and I hope he will go far.

Quote:"Many years ago Brigham Young told of an early missionary in the Church who was asked to share his testimony with a large group of people. According to President Young, this particular elder “never had been able to say that he knew Joseph [Smith] was a Prophet.” He would have preferred to just say a prayer and leave, but the circumstances made that impossible. So he started to speak, and “as soon as he got ‘Joseph’ out, ‘is a Prophet,’ was … next; and from that, his tongue was loosened, and he continued talking until near sun-down.”
President Young used this experience to teach that “the Lord pours out His Spirit upon a man, when he testifies that [which] the Lord gives him to testify of” "M. Russel Ballard October 2004 (Pure Testimony).

Sincerely
Elder Payne
France, Paris Mission





Monday, November 6, 2017

Looking forward to new missionary companion

Bonjour à tous,

Well this week has been busy, and I'm getting a new companion this Wednesday! Elder Merritt is going home this week! He is so excited. But my next companion will be a guy named Elder Christensen. I hear good things about him but I don't know him at all personally. But I am staying in Amiens. 

Yesterday was fun because none of the branch presidency was at church. So the ward mission leader presided. Not many people were at church yesterday because there was a big wedding in our branch that was being held in Saint Quentin. Actually on the same day as a baptism there as well. But it all went well. 

We did a lot of tracting and finding this week. And we didn't find any solid contacts. But it paid off because a member this Sunday brought 2 friends from work to church! They were pretty cool. I hope to teach them in the future. 

Well I honestly can't remember my week, this week should be interesting with transfers and all of that. 

Talk to you all next week!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

Elder Payne - Home!

Elder Payne arrived home at 11:10pm March 28, 2019. Thanks everyone for your support and prayers!