All things denote there is a God

I'm at a loss of what I want to talk about this week. So let's hope that something good comes out of my ramblings.

This transfer, thus far has been nothing but an adventure! Elder Allen, My teaching companion, and I have been doing a lot of work regarding our Facebook pages.

I don't think I have written an email since this transfer started. So here we go!

If you remember Elder Allen, we lived together when I was serving in Cedar Park, TX in the Vista Ridge area. We had a grand old time and here we are, a transfer later, working together in a companionship.

While we lived in the same apartment, we got along and so when we found out that we were going to be working together, I was jumping for joy!

Our mission has different Facebook pages that post Christ-centered content to help us find people to teach and ultimately help them find the joy that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have also been doing quite a lot of work with the members of our congregation that we are assigned over, the Heatherwilde congregation in the Pflugerville area. We are both pretty new to this area so we are trying to get to know everyone and gain a stronger connection with the members in the area.

Along with that, we have been doing a lot to help the people we are currently working with. We have been getting quite a few people reaching out to us to hear a message on whatever they may need! It has been such a blessing. Essentially with all the work that we do with our assignment working on the Facebook pages, God is still preparing people and working on them. He has a plan for everyone and we just need to trust that.

I want to go a little in-depth about these three things that we are focusing on.

First, our assignment as the Mission social media specialist.
These past few weeks have been a rollercoaster trying to figure a few things out on what steps we want to take as we try to further the outreach of the pages. We have a few things in the works but it has been a learning experience trying to figure out how it will be executed correctly. (If there is such a way to do it "Correctly")

Our mission currently has 4 Facebook pages that the missionaries use to, as I said before, help us find people to teach. These pages cover a certain geographical area. North, Central, South, and Spanish (which covers the entire mission). Our plan is to shrink that into only two pages! One English and one Spanish.

We hope this will help with the quality of the posts that we are making as missionaries. It is exciting and we hope that it will all be able to work out.

Second, as a zone, a small group of missionaries in an assigned area, we want to work with our members and help them stay strong in their faith in Jesus Christ. With this Elder Allen and I coined the term, "Get them home!"

This last week was a whole lot of Elder Allen and I stopping by members and getting to know them.

We have an older population in our congregation and it was super fun to get to know a few this week and hear their stories and testimony. We would share a short message with them and see if there was anything we could do for them.

We shared a lot about the Book of Mormon and talked about how they were converted. They all bore sweet and powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon.

There is a power that comes from reading and applying the words of scripture in our lives. It was uplifting to be in these members' homes and listen to how it has impacted their lives.

We have some good potential with these families that may not be as active or have part-member families.

And more to come!

Third, we have a few friends of ours who are coming to church and are excited in learning more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and growing their relationship with God. With the help of the Lord, Elder Allen and I have been doing our very best to be able to help them.

Recently, I think I have come to the realization that I really couldn't do any of this amazing work without the Lord and His help moving me along or preparing people to meet us.

It's been a huge testimony builder to think how much God really trusts us. Me. 18-26-year-olds who are in a pretty prevalent time in their lives. God is pretty reliant on the young adults of the church and must trust us to do something right. Just goes to show that we really couldn't do this work without Him.

I'm probably circling in my thought process, but you get the jist.

We got some pretty amazing news this past week. Our mission President announced this past week that we will have the opportunity to attend the temple in San Antonio! This is a pretty big deal and an amazing blessing that we get to be able to enjoy! If you don't know completely why it is a blessed opportunity, email me, and I would love to tell you why!

(I'll explain a bit of the importance of this right now)

Along with this opportunity, our district, which is an even smaller group of missionaries compared to the zone, is studying the five covenants that we make in the temple.

• The Law of Obedience
• The Law of Sacrifice
• The Law of The Gospel
• The Law of Chastity
• The Law of Consecration

I have been learning a lot and have been really preparing myself for the time I am going to be able to spend remembering those covenants in the temple and focusing on my relationship with God and Jesus Christ.

I studied a talk this week by Elder Ulisses Soares

(Covenant Confidence through Jesus Christ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/16soares?lang=eng)

I don't have much time left today, but I had a good time reading and studying this talk. I would explain but you should read it and figure out what God needs you to learn.

My thoughts would probably be boring anyway. I wouldn't be able to say it better than Elder Soares does. Just know that we can have trust and confidence in God and Jesus Christ because we have built a strong relationship with Them and have done what is necessary to see the safety that comes from having that relationship with Them.

I am going to try and be better at writing weekly and sharing my thoughts and experiences about my time here in Texas.

I know it's not much but I hope you enjoyed it. It's been a minute and I sure hope to start writing more.

I have gotten back in the habit of writing in my journal daily so I am grateful for that.

The weather just keeps getting hotter and there isn't much to do about it.

Jesus loves you

That's about it. See ya.

• Elder Payne