The Muffin Man
I am obsessed with muffins. I don't know where this obsession came from, but dah gum, I love me some good muffins! I have made 2 boxes of muffins these past 2 weeks. One for fun, then the other for Zone Conference! I bought 2 more boxes today so that will be fun to make this week.
Zone Conference though. I got to see Elder Stevens, Elder Giuffra, Elder Miles, and Sister Goodmann! It was so awesome! When I saw Elder Stevens, it was so awesome!! Imagine this: I brought muffins to Zone Conference and I was throwing my tin away because they were all gone. As I am walking down the hallway I see Sister Goodmann and I say, "What is this?!" Then out of nowhere Elder Stevens appears from behind the small group of missionaries walking down the hall and yells, "ELDER PAYNE!" He starts running towards me. I start yelling some sort of jumbled words along the lines of, Elder Stevens and it's so good to see you. Something like that. He then reaches me and we collide. His water bottle smacked me in the head and his thumb was jammed by my body. We hugged and had a really good happy moment. Then we sat next to each other during the meeting and lunch. Got to catch up. It was so nice!
It has been quite an interesting time being back here in Texas, but I am loving every single minute of it. (Almost) Here are a few crazy or fun things that have happened:
I made muffins
Got a Quran
Got to pass the sacrament
Put Elle and Jose on date for baptism
Exchanges with Elder Nacarato
Lesson with Cass!
Talked to a personal trainer out of his garage
Power went out
Let me talk really quickly about three of those amazing experiences.
Passing the sacrament
I haven't had the opportunity to pass the sacrament in quite some time. While at church yesterday the deacons came up to Elder Williams and I asking if one of us could help. Elder Williams was giving a talk so I decided to help. It was a fantastic experience. I don't know how it happened but I felt a greater connection and love for my savior Jesus Christ. It was a super simple act of passing the sacrament and helping others renew their covenant, that made me realize something. The spirit hit me so hard during the song and while passing. That experience built my testimony of Jesus Christ and his atonement.
Jose and Elle
We had a super good lesson with them this last week. The way that the spirit enters the room when you testify of the truth that the people are needing is such an amazing and sacred experience. We talked about many different things in this discussion, but when we talked about temples and families being together forever, everyone felt the spirit in that house. We all knew that on that day, in that minute, what we were talking about was true! Because the spirit of God confirmed the truth of it to all of us.
Cass
Oh boy! So let me tell you about Cass for a minute. She is so freaking cool! She wanted to have Bible studies and learn more, so that's what we'll be doing while sprinkling some principles from the lessons in there. But on this last lesson, I was on exchanges with Elder Nacarrato, we were going to talk about the story of Ruth and then relate it to our life here on earth and the trials we go through, somehow and in someway the spirit directed our conversation to talk about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She has a strong desire to serve a mission and do what she sees us doing. We talked about baptism and how we have the power from God to perform a baptism and make it good in the eyes of God. We were bold with her and it was so awesome. She was able to come to church yesterday and she loved it!
Not a lot, but seeing some awesome miracles as I go forth.
Jesus loves you!
That's about it. See ya!
- Elder Payne
