I have been fascinated with the word hope lately and poetry. So here is a poem I wrote.

Hope's gentle light shines bright and true,
A beacon in darkness, guiding me to you.
A promise of better days to come,
Good blessings on their way, before too long.

May hope's sweet peace settle in my soul
And fill my heart with joy, making me whole.
For in the darkness, hope's light shines through,
Illuminating a brighter future, waiting for you.

"Hope for good things to come".
Elder Holland said that, and it really stuck with me.

I realized I have not been having Hope. I have been expecting the blessings/good days to come, but not in the right way. I was expecting it to come after I prayed or after a lesson. Elder Holland talked about it more when he said, "Quit looking into the past, the past is to be learned from, NOT lived in. Forgive and do what is harder, Forget and look to the future for the blessings that are yet to come".

I have been so focused on my past and what I left behind that I was not looking for the blessings that are yet to come, that have been promised to me for doing the work.
I have changed my focus and am now looking toward the future, when I will one day speak good Creole and teach, maybe even train a new missionary.

If I don't say something about biking my father would be upset. Haha
The weather is getting nicer, and all I think about is biking and racing. I realized how much biking is like missionary work. First and foremost, thank you, Dad, for preparing me, and I didn't even know it.

At the beginning of every season, I get excited to ride/race, so I jump on my bike expecting to have fun..... well the first weeks hurt so bad because my body or mind is not in biking mode, but after that time of pain and work, it gets a little easier. It does not go away. If I ever go for a ride and come home and say it was not hard, I had learned nothing. I should go ride farther, longer, harder.

The beginning is always the hardest part. Acting in faith, waking up early for church, starting a talk you have to write the night before, and so much more. But it always gets better. Your muscles always heal, but they can heal faster if you're following Christ and looking past the pain at the blessings that are yet to come, winning the races by riding faster, farther, and longer.

Have HOPE!!!! Hope that what you're doing is right and that the lord does promise blessings that he will give you.

You cannot drive a car looking in the rearview mirror; it's too dang small, you will crash over and over and over. Start looking forward to the open roads. (With no cops) 😉

I love you all and pray for you all individually often.

Stay strong, this world is so backwards

Challenge: Go smile at someone this week and drink some dlo (water)

Lapè soti (peace out)

Èlde Payne

nou tout manke anpil rete fò

I got transferred and found out I am officially Haitian Creole Eldè

Haitians are amazing! They are some of the best people you could ever meet. They are so kind. I was so happy to see how much joy they have when I came here.

I used to lay in my bed at night and say man life is hard, I have to work a job and go to school and clean the house......

Now, I learned young Elder Payne wasn't very smart or grateful, I was more grateful for things after my first lesson. I'll tell you what made me feel that way.

My first lesson with Mario, awesome guy, he has a deep accent which is super hard to understand. When we got to his house, he was sleeping on a beach towel on the floor. Looking at him, you would think he was starving. He said he just ate a lot of salad, but I don't know about that. Mario works 3 jobs, he always sleeps on the floor, and has no materials at home. You would think that with all the money he makes, he should be able to get a better meal and a bed. He sends most of the money back home to Haiti to keep his family alive. I will not go into depth about everything that is going on in Haiti and why so many Haitians are coming here.

Mario is so grateful that we came to talk to him; he is grateful for the sleep he finds, and he is grateful for the home he has.

Mario had more gratitude than I did, and I had so much more to be grateful for, so who am I to not have gratitude.

Don't take what you have for granted, and Remember who gave you what you have, and don't forget to thank him. (Jesus Christ)

Learning Haitian is hard, I wasn't even good at English. lol But I am trying my best and all the time in my lessons I sit and look at the mouth of who is talking, to try and learn how to say things and just agree with what my companion says.

I am serving a foreign mission, and Ohio is a foreign place by itself, but standing in a house on a wooden floor while they are sitting on the stairs is something I did not see coming when I opened my mission call to Ohio.

Now, I am convinced that I was supposed to go to Haiti, but it is too dangerous for missionaries, so he brought them here to Ohio.

I love you all, stay strong and stay oh so very grateful, and say thank you every day.

I invite you all to write down every night 3 things you are grateful for and to tell one person that you are grateful for something they do every day.

Shoot me an email if you can, and let me know how it goes. Let me know if you have seen a change in your happiness or in others.

I have done this myself, I have felt happierand  have seen more blessings from the Lord in my day. I promise you as you show more gratitude, the Lord will bless you with more to be thankful for. Funny how that works.

Give everyone at church on Sunday a high five, I miss you all, and thanks for the support.

I love you all so much!
mwen renmen nou tout anpil!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RfDBYHhyPBpJ2T4a8

As to not get confused, there is Elder Payne (Kohl) and Elder Payne 2.0 (me) I hope to be just as good a missionary as Elder Payne.


This week has been hard for me, it has been challenging to stay positive. I was struggling for a while there but I had the opportunity to do some studying with the other ELDER PAYNE and he had me read Alma 17
Go read it 10/10



It changed my mindset and helped me be more in tune with the spirit, which helped me be happier.

We had a little incident with President Markied and we talked a lot about mindset. I talked to my father and the fam a lot about it, my dad shared that during a long bike race, we are not looking to the finish that is 77 miles away, we think about the next water stop.

The MTC has been hard, but I am working on getting to that next water stop, so to speak. While we were all on the phone today I found Jesus. There was a little Jesus in the air vent right above me and so I started wandering and looking for more and as I looked up in the light, there was this note.

On it is said Elder Conger Ether 12:27, it was just what I needed to read. It really helped, so shout out to Elder Conger.
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Having Elder Payne also serving at the same time is so nice. He is helping me so much to understand my emotions, what God says, and how I can be better. Thank you, Edler Payne

Oh, I almost forgot I am trying to write this right before bed so I am rushing through it. But we had our first temple trip, it was awesome. I did confirmations for the first time and it was so cool. We have two other opportunities to go to the temple before I read to Ohio.

Never forget God loves you and is always on the other side of the door.
Elder J Payne