Staying in Blois and getting a new companion

Bonjour à tous,

I am staying in Blois. But, just like every other transfer, I'm rather anxious about this next one. I am getting a new companion named Elder Nilsson. I am also excited because I was called to be a District Leader! I can't wait for the new experiences that comes from being district leader. I am a very adaptable person and I can't wait to start serving my fellow missionaries! It's going to be an adventure!  

So we get to go to Paris on Wednesday to make the change! I think that Elder Sebryk is sad that he is leaving France but at the same time, he is way excited to see his family. 

On Saturday, we got his parting meal, which was some kebabs, but these were special kebabs. I will explain it later.

We got some good rain here last night. I've come to love the rain, it's so refreshing. 

Well, today is a really busy day, I better finish all these emails. I love you!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

Birthday in Blois

Bonjour à tous,

This week was alright, nothing huge happened other than MY BIRTHDAYYYYYYYYYYYY!! It was fun! The night just before I ate until I couldn't at a members house. Then the next morning we went to the local market to get a pastry. Then we went to get kebabs for lunch. Then we had a rendez-vous that night with an ami we are working with. That went really well, he still has some pride in his heart but he is starting to change. So that is really cool. 

Yesterday we went to eat with a member and like 9 other members! We had a big meal all together and on the way their we got to ride in a convertible! It was an old fiat but riding through Blois in an old convertible fiat with a suit on made me feel like the classiest man alive! My hair didn't feel the same way but I don't care, it was still awesome.

I also got my birthday package! Some Hatch green Chile and other essentials! My parents also sent me a cool metal scorpion to build as I did ask specifically for something I could build with. Little old me, always fidgeting and tinkering with things. 

This week is the last week of the transfer! And my companion Elder Sebryk is going home next week, so I am guaranteed to get a new companion. Of course I'm excited but me and Elder Sebryk have had some really awesome times together and we get along so well that I am really sad to watch him go. Maybe I will see him in the future if I ever go to Canada. 

Anyway, that's all I got! I love you all! Here are some pictures!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

Elder Payne and the wonderful Hatch green chile

Scorpion puzzle for birthday.

Rain in Blois

Excited to work with the new Branch Mission Leader

Bonjour à tous,

C'était une bonne semaine! My companion is on the last 2 weeks of his mission! So we are making sure to work as hard as ever and do everything he wants before he leaves. 

We have a new Branch Mission Leader! He is awesome and I can't wait to really work with him. He is kicking the work here into shape and has a lot of motivation to get things done, which is awesome because now we have a chance to do some member missionary work. As all missionaries know, member missionary work is the best kind and it's the most effective. And our new DMB is really gung-ho for that. 

This Saturday is my Birthday!!!! I'm really excited! I will be 21 for the rest of my mission. I feel like I'm still 19. It's weird how life works like that. I am patiently waiting for my birthday package from my parents. I will take pictures of it when it arrives so you all can see. But mainly so that I can have the pictures forever. 

We had some exchanges this week and me and Elder Langley (love that guy) went to a nearby lake. Well I love to skip rocks, it's something I used to do all the time when near lakes and rivers. So I was bent on skipping a few rocks. Instead, we got stopped by a young couple and ended having a 40ish minute long discussion with them about life. They were really cool and although we didn't get to share a formal gospel message with them, it was still really cool to be able to tell them who we are and what we are doing here.

So that was a cool little moment. 

My Pimente plants are starting to flower! I will attach a picture.

Well that is it for the week, I had a great time talking with my family last Sunday! 

Talk to you next week!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

On our Mother's Day call Elder Payne noted that all 'pepper' or 'chile' plants are called pimento in France. So we don't know what kind of peppers they will be yet.

Short letter after Mother's Day video chat

Bonjour à tous!

Well mothers day was yesterday for America, and I got to talk to my family! Which was awesome!

Well this past week we were outside of our ville again for a lot of the week. We went to Le Mans for district p-day and then we stayed for exchanges. We ended being in Le Mans for a grand total of 3 whole days! Monday we were supposed to be there, Tuesday was exchanges, but then we found out that there was a strike for the trains on Wednesday at the exact time that we planned on going back. So no trains were running. We had to stay for another night. That was long. 

We finally came back on Thursday but on Friday, I had to finally go back to Paris to make myself legal again in France. It was successful we just scraped by though because of conflicting trains and metro lines and stuff like that. 

Well I am now legal in France again. And yesterday we had a mangez-vous with our new branch mission leader. He is awesome and fed us a five course meal. He is a chef, and knows what good food is. But he also knows that we missionaries will eat whatever he feeds us. But it was delicious anyway, I have a picture of the cake he made, I will attach it here.

This next week we are looking at a pretty tranquille week. Although we have exchanges in Blois this time and we have quite a few people to call and set things up with. 

Well have a great week everyone! I love you all and I will see you in roughly 11 months!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

Blois France - Work Continues

Bonjour à tous,

Bonjour tout le monde! J'ai passé une bonne semaine! Il était très chargé, mais bon. I thought I could give you guys some French.

But boy was it a week. We had zone conference on Tuesday, but we couldn't find any trains that day so we had to go Monday night and stay in another apartment for the night. The next morning we had zone conference. After that we tried to get our train, but the subway line didn't go to our train station to head home. We tried several different lines to get there but they were all closed down due to protesting (there is a lot of that in France right now ...it makes travelling really frustrating). We tried to find out what to do but found out that there was no way to get there and take a train home. So we decided to call the missionaries in Paris to find a place to stay for the night and after calling a million people and no one answering, we found out that there was a baptism with the Elders we stayed the night with already. So we went to the baptism of their ami. That was cool. The next morning we went home. On the way back home, a guy stopped us in Blois and told us that he was there for a rendez-vous with us that we had forgotten. So we had an impromptu lesson which went okay. Then we had a guy come and turn back on our gas. And then we had all of our rendez vous crammed into 4 days. So yeah, crazy week.

And this week we have a ton to do. I have to go to Paris for legal paperwork, we discovered that last week that the office was closed. So yeah.

We taught one of our contacts this week. He is doing really good right now and told us that he is really on the fence about joining our church but he has seen so many good things. He has really been seeing a change of heart and has found somewhat of a home in the Church. Which is really awesome.

Right now we are in Le Mans for district meeting and P-day. We found an escape room here and went today. It was zombie themed and awesome. We didn't make it out but we were really close. We were just at the end when time ran out. But it was so much fun and quite the adventure. 

Well I am at FHE right now and I better get back to being a missionary. Here are some pictures though!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

Bridge in Blois France

Balloon above Blois

Amazing progress in Blois

Bonjour à tous,

This week was amazing, literally a miracle week! But the miracles didn't show up really until the weekend.

So our gas service at our apartment has been out for the past week. Luckily our stove is electric and so is the oven. However the hot water for showers in the morning? Yup you guessed it - nothing. We now have to boil our own water every morning. I know that other missionaries in other areas have it worse still, but it's still pretty annoying. We expect that to be fixed this week. The problem though is that the utility company is not reliable and for some reason, and they seem to ignore the missionaries. 

On the other hand, to the miracles! So the first one started out as an awful day. We had a progressing investigator who told us that he doesn't see the need to come to church or get baptised. He is too prideful and we left the appointment feeling awful. But we had another rendez-vous right after that with a part-member family. The father being the member. His wife has been difficult and unrespensoive for a long time. We went in with a general idea on what to teach, but we weren't sure. And as we said the opening prayer, the spirit told me in a quiet whisper "have a testimony meeting", so I told my companion and then I testified, he testified and the father testified. Then we turned to the wife and said "now you've seen the testimony of 3 people who you are close friends with, and there are almost 16 million other people out there who are a part of this church because they felt the same feeling, now when are you going to start looking for yourself?" (Paraphrasing of course) she said that she always knew this to be a good church and she trusts the missionaries and loves the members. Thé spirit was so strong in that room and we know that she is really going to be moving along towards baptism soon!

Also the man we are helping to Quit smoking came to church! With his 2 kids! His kids absolutely loved it! I have never seen the man so happy than when he was at church with his kids. I think he caught a glimpse of what his future could look like and he loved it!

Another ami that has been coming to church all on his own told us that he feels at home in our church and is probably going to invest more in our church! Also, another ami that we were going to stop teaching had a sudden change, she used to be completely unresponsive and would not follow commitments and she wasn't progressing. We had a rendez-vous with her and all of the sudden, she seems to have changed, just enough to contribute and listen to what we have to say. 

Man, I love this gospel. I have been doing so much learning and growing over the past week that it's not even funny!

Well I love you all! Have a great week!

Sincerely
Elder Payne 
France, Paris Mission

Short note from France

Bonjour a tous,

Yeah, our ami is still doing well, I have been seeing things start to improve lately. We are trying to set something up for him to go to the temple, we hope he will have a great experience there and really get a desire to work hard.

I did get a haircut today. I decided I like my hair a little longer, but I also need to keep it short since you know... missionary.

The 100 pushup challenge is still going well. The only thing I find difficult is the fact that I am only working a certain muscle group in my body. So I try to switch it up but to still keep the goal of 100 of something. Speaking of counting steps, my pedometer broke. But that's ok because I got some good data while I was in Épinal. Keep in mind, the pedometer broke a while ago, and I have done way more walking since.

Love,
Elder Payne