I am an Angel!!

What's popping?!

We had a really good week, full of blessings, miracles, and some pretty scary situations. We will go over the blessings, miracles, and all the good things. Might touch briefly on the scary/sad.

Let's start our journey on Monday night, shall we?

Monday night Elder Giuffra and I went out, beatin the streets. Ya know, the typical missionary things. We went to visit some of our friends who we had planned to go visit. Well, the pretty common thing happened where none of them answered. We felt inspired that we had to be in that area for a reason. So, we then said a prayer to see what direction God had for us and what we should do. Elder Giuffra got a picture of a white truck. We were then on the hunt! We were searching for any house with a white truck. We immediately saw one and walked on over. Knock, no answer. This pattern continued for a while. We would see a white truck, knock, no answer, and then see another white truck. We were on a mission to find the person we were supposed to find because of their white truck. We talked to a few people on the way who weren't interested. But it was all for the greater good. We see a white truck. The only one that we could see at that point from the journey we went on. We knock. There was no answer. We started to knock again, and BOOM, the door opened! We start talking to this man, and he says that he knew who we were and was actually interested in talking to us. One of his best friends is a 'Mormon' and he had a few questions for us. So we grab his digits and tell him that we would be in contact with him! Pretty darn cool! We had a good chat with him later in the week and we said that his friend is a 'Super Mormon'. Meaning, he knew his stuff. They are planning on going to the Temple that is going to be built in Austin for the open house! He is a horseshoer and works a lot! But we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would be really interested in reading it and learning more. Miracles abound every day baby!

We got a referral and had a lesson over the phone with him on Monday night. And, we put him on date! We had the thought and prompting to ask him and so we did! Now this goes out to all the missionaries out there. If you are in a lesson and get the thought or prompting to ask somebody to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, do it. "Just do it!" That is what we are out here to do! We got nothing to lose. I know, I know. You might think, "Oh, it's ToOOooO sOooOoN." And to that, I say pish posh. Follow through with your promptings and you will see miracles. You will. Anywho! He told us to talk to his mom and she sounds super sweet and they seem like they are a really nice family!

We had an epic church tour with our friend Richard! He promised us that he would try his best to read from the Book of Mormon. The member that we invited for the lesson works at the military base nearby, same with our boy Richard! It was awesome! They were able to talk about that and gain that connection! The members in the Temple 1st ward are so clutch! That leads to my next story!

We invited our sweet sweet friend Terrell to church on Sunday. Background information on this sweet lady. We were calling some old referrals and we started talking to her. We have been having really great studies with her over the phone because she lives super far away. We set up a time to go to her church on Saturday. So this past Saturday we went to her church and it was super cool. A really really different experience from going to the other church where it was like a rock concert. It was more reverent and calm. The building was interesting. The "chapel" part was in the very middle with no windows letting in any natural light. It was kinda smaller than I would have thought. Everyone there was super super sweet and nice. Anyway! We did a church swap with her. So we went with her on Saturday and she came with us on Sunday!

Elder Giuffra and I are at the church an hour and a half early for a meeting that we had. The meeting is starting to go over just a tad. Nothing out of the blue. We hear a knock on the door, open it and Brother Tate asks if he can take us, with a bit of an urgency on his face. He tells us that Terrell was there and that she was pretty hesitant in coming in. But he noticed and then caught her before she was about to leave. The biggest thank you to Brother Tate. He followed through with a prompting to reach out to this lady who looked like she was lost and was going to walk out. We got to her and gave her a hug. She was super happy to see us and we were super happy to see her! Our members instantly started reaching out to her and getting to know her. She sat with one of the older couples in our ward and we sat right in front of them. There was a baller musical number by one of the Young Men in the ward. He is a wizard with the violin! He played "If You Could Hie to Kolob" Dah gum! It was beautiful! I am such a crybaby when it comes to songs. Dad, I still blame you. The talks were awesome. It was 3 youths and then Brother Tate talking about the time they spent at Nauvoo. It was awesome. Straight up bars from every single one who gave a talk and bore testimony. We know Terrell definitely felt the spirit and we definitely did as well. The closing song was "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". I just can't sing this song without crying. I love this song so much! I saw a few other people crying so I wasn't the only one ok! It was so nice having Terrell with us that Sunday though. She said that she will be coming next week. We set up a time to have dinner with her on Thursday. We are going to drive out to her farm and just have a great time. She told us that she didn't know what Nauvoo was, so we will have to fill her in. Hahahah We might just watch the Restoration movie with her. She is awesome though!

I was able to go in a Trio Exchange with the Temple 2nd Elders. Elder Stevens and Elder Raban. I love these Elders so much! They are amazing and are doing such good work! We had a really good day! Crazy day full of giving blessings, and member referrals.

Let's start with the blessings that we gave. I love that we are able to give blessings to people. It is such an amazing experience that I think we may take for granted sometimes. But today we definitely did not take these blessings for granted. We gave 4 blessings. 2 members and 2 non-members. I was asked to give 3 of the 4. They all looked right at me and asked me to do it. I don't have words for how good these blessings were. Not because I gave them but just because of the spirit that filled the room with every single blessing. To add to the experience, one of the members and non-members were in the same house and are both going through pretty similar trials in their life right now. Elder Stevens told me afterward that though they were going through similar things the blessings were still very individualized and personal and different. How crazy is the spirit! I couldn't tell you anything I said in that blessing because it did not come from me. It came straight from the Holy Ghost. It was awesome! To add the cherry on top, the non-member was super interested and was in my area! She took the Book of Mormon and said she is ready to find the truth. DAH GUM! It was so awesome. We shared the Ask of God video. This is Joseph Smith's first vision and she was asking so many questions and it was just awesome. She is so ready!

There are way more cool things but those were the highlights. I hope you enjoyed :)

We had an EPIC 4th of July party with the Member in the Temple 2nd ward that knew Elder Giuffra from his first area. The one we went to for his birthday! It was awesome! My favorite thing is all the pictures from it!

We tried to watch some fireworks from the balcony but there wasn't anything close and it was pretty lame. But Elder Stevens and I were singing and we were goofing off. It was a good 4th of July. Elder Giuffra was jokingly saying that he can't wish people a Happy 4th because it wasn't coming from his heart. Haha, It was a fun fun day! We also had District Council on the 4th because we couldn't do it any other time during the week. Of course, we took some pictures! Happy 4th to you all.

On Monday we played Risk with our member, Kramer! He is so much fun! We then went bowling with the District and with Kramer. Such a fun time!

I went on a Mini Exchange with Elder Hoffmann due to MLC. So Elder Hoffmann and I hung out for half the day. It was fun! We went to lunch with our Temple 2nd buddies. Also, we found out that Elder Hoffmann wrote a song! He is a musical prodigy! It's a banger!

The Temple 2nd Elders pranked us this past week. . . Watch this video and you will see.

Yeah. They still have a key to our apartment. We need to get them back but I don't know what to do. We can't get into their apartment. But if you have any ideas. . . Let me know :)

We had some pretty scary things happen this week. Things that just didn't have the spirit there and I knew that we were being protected. I could feel that Elder Giuffra and I were full of the spirit but the environment was not a place we should have been in. So we got out. There was one point in one of these experiences where I was praying under my breath and Elder Giuffra was reading the Book of Mormon so that we could keep the spirit with us and be protected. It was pretty scary. The Devil is real, and he is out for us. Not saying this to try and be scary but as a warning. Get on the straight and narrow and stay there. Yes, it will be hard but we do not want to be wandering off into the mist of darkness. We do not know what is out there.

Overall a really solid week. We have another week of miracles ahead of us and I can't wait to send out another email.

I am grateful for all the support and I have a deep love for all of you! I am excited to keep changing and using the Atonement in my everyday life.

I am at Mosiah 14. I'm trying to grind haha It is a struggle but I am getting so much out of it and I am so happy! The Book of Mormon is awesome!

As for the title. . . in one of the odd experiences we had, a guy thought we were angels from heaven. I kinda wanna know what he was seeing. What we looked like from an outsider's perspective.

Join the Google Photo album to see all the photos:https://photos.app.goo.gl/WUYwsyauonMKVuc29

That's about it. See ya.
-Elder Kohl Payne