Total Eclipse of the Heart

My companion, Elder Jones, and I were doing some really good work in Vista Ridge in the Cedar Park area. Preparing the people for the House of the Lord that will be there in what will seem like the blink of an eye. Things with the ward were turning up and I was liking the direction were with things were going.

Elder Jones and I were working well together. Always trying to help each other be better and improve. We both had our own skills and talents and would fill in where the other would fall short. (Mainly Elder Jones filling in for me falling.) I knew that I would probably be leaving at the end of this transfer but I still had one final shot at making an attempt to stay in Vista Ridge.

Interviews with President...

Our interviews were the week before transfers and none of the planning for transfers would have been done yet, so I had the opportunity to sway him to the side of letting me stay in Vista Ridge for yet another transfer. (Transfer #5)

As I have my interview with him we start talking about how long I have been in the area. This is roughly how that conversation went:

Pres: "Elder Payne! It's so good to see you!"

EP: "You to Pres!"

Pres: With a somewhat concerned/questioning look on his face "So how long have you been in Vista Ridge now? It's been 4 transfer's right?"

EP: "I haven't been here long enough President! The work is just getting started. I still got work to do here!"

Pres: "Well, good thing Elder Jones will be here to take it over!"

Devastation.

A shot and a miss.

A few days later we called president and asked him a question due to a situation that came up and towards the end of the conversation he said;

"Well, Elder's it was a good thing you called me...Elder Payne, I have a new assignment for you this next transfer. Are you ready?"

...

I knew exactly what it was for, and I was in fact not ready... I am now over Facebook for the entire mission... So there are both pros and cons with this new assignment. It won't be worth going into detail on all of them but I am getting more and more excited to focus my efforts on doing the Lord's work on Facebook.

The sad part, this area has some work to do to keep it alive... It will be a fun thing to try and balance.

I am back in Pflugerville but in a different ward. Heatherwilde. So if you remember when I first came back out to Texas after my 6 week "vacation" (lol) I whitewashed (Two missionaries go into an area where the other missionaries are leaving. So you basically don't know anything. Fun.), into Pflugerville and then after one transfer there I was able to go to Vista Ridge and have just a blast and a half over there.

So now I'm back in the same apartment I lived in. And it's not the best apartment... But it gets the job done, I guess.

Flashback to a few weeks ago while in Vista Ridge, there was a pretty spectacular event that happened. The Austin area was able to be in part of the total blackout zone for the eclipse! The park that we went to was packed full of people staring up into the sky, wearing eclipse glasses.

Once the full blackout happened, the crowd was cheering! Seems as if the whole world was congratulating the sun and the moon for doing the thing that we said it was going to do. It was like when people cheer when the plane lands. Same kinda vibe.

It was pretty cool though! I was able to be with my grandparents and all the Elders in the apartment, E. Jones, E. Aldea, and E. Allen. We then went to a good BBQ place and then showed Grandma and Pop around the temple grounds.

Saying bye to the apartment crew was hard but rumor has it that Elder Allen could possibly be my companion text transfer... The decision for the "Tech Elder" role was between me and him apparently. So they might put him in next transfer. We shall see. Facebook work would go crazy!

That's pretty much the update...

A cool experience that my friend Conner McBride had that he didn't tell me about until I just heard his farewell talk, So in my first 6 months in my time here in Texas I message my friend Conner, whom was still at home and tell him, Hey, have you ever thought about leaving on your mission sooner? We talked and blah blah.

Then just this past Sunday he gives his farewell talk. In it, he tells of an experience that he had. He had been doing some thinking about many different things and then decided to pray and see if he should leave on his mission sooner. (Super brief summary) He said that not even 10 minutes later I had messaged him those same exact words that he said in his prayer.

"What are your thoughts about going on a mission sooner rather than later?"

Just fetchin crazy. God does hear and answer our prayers. Go say a prayer.

Photos + Funny videos
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WUYwsyauonMKVuc29

That's about it. See ya.

• Elder Payne