The Triforce

I started the week out well by going to Texas Roadhouse with the district. We got so many rolls! Never had a shortage of rolls. I probably ate 5! If you think about it, that is a lot. That is a basket +1. And with a full meal afterward. . . I ate a lot.

For Taylors Valley this week, Elder Rice and I got to bag potatoes. They were very very dirty, and so were really nasty. Dave, who is the guy in charge, asked us to take over for two very sweet old ladies, because he didn't want them to get hurt. So for about 1-2 hours, we bagged some nasty potatoes. It was quite nice though and we had a nice conversation on mentality and how it is important. Good stuff.

Now . . . For the highlight of the week . . . Drumroll please . . .

*Drumroll*

THE TRIO EXCHANGE!! Oh yeah. What a day this was. So let me tell ya how this all went down. Elder Rice and I are companions. The APs came up to go on exchanges. So Elder Rice went with Elder Zito (An AP). I went with the Temple 2 Elders, Elder Johansen, and Elder Stevens. BUT, those Elders had exchanges with the Belton Elders, Elder Tyler, and Elder Porter. So how it ended up was, Elder Tyler, Elder Johansen, and I were in the Temple 2 area. We called ourselves the Triforce! What a sick name. We had a really good day together. Laughing, working, and playing with animals. Lots of cool experiences happened on this exchange.

First, we went to the park that we went to on Pday to look for the top of Elder Tyler's watch face that he lost and thought it fell off. So we say a prayer to help us find it and to help us talk to this lady that was sitting down. We decide to go talk to this lady first. She wasn't very interested and you could tell. As we were talking to her, Elder Tyler starts walking, bends down, and picks up the top of his watch. How cool is that?! This was a pretty decent-sized park, and if we hadn't talked to this lady we probably wouldn't have found his watch face. It's cool how God works.
Next, we stopped by a member's house to help her out with a few things. In return, she gave us lettuce! haha As we were here her daughter came out to help a customer. For what? I was about to find out. The garage door opens up and there are just rows and rows of rats, mice, and all those little fellas. I'm pretty sure Remy was chillin' somewhere in this garage. Cooking up some good food for the members. You see, she sells rats and mice to people to feed to their snakes, or just for whatever reason they might want a rat or mouse. I got to hear a lot of random facts about rats, mice, and snakes that I didn't know before and that I couldn't tell you now.

I got to hold one of the snakes! As seen in the picture below:

Pretty fun. Elder Tyler is terrified of snakes! Once she said that she could go grab a snake for us to see, he turned around and started walking away. It was funny. I never knew how scared people could be of a snake. BUT!! HE DID IT! He was able to overcome his fear just a bit and touched the snake! Can we get a WOOHOO for Elder Tyler please?! It was awesome!

Last but not least, at dinner that evening with the member the question was asked, "What is the best thing about the mission and what is the worst thing about the mission?"

Elder Tyler and I speak at the same time.

Me: "Best thing is Elder Johansen!"

Elder Tyler: "Elder Johansen."

We start laughing and Elder Tyler says, "I never said he was the best thing." Which just makes me laugh more. It was one of those things where you would have had to be there. Ya know? Overall, a really good day with these two Elders. Great men and both have super strong testimonies.

I got some paint pens from one of the Spanish Sisters in the district. Why? Oh, let me tell ya. It's kinda upsetting. My dang hard copy of the Book of Mormon, the words on the front keep disappearing! They are fading away! It was so sad. But I put white letters. I think it looks pretty good. It's not perfect but that's what makes it better.

The thunderstorms are nice. There have been quite a bit lately.

We got to go up to Lott again this month. Do you know what that means? Greens! The best place ever. Something hits differently when you eat at Greens.

One day, as Elder Rice and I were walking out the door to go do some Comp study, I said that I feel like it is going to be a great day. About an hour later we come back to the apartment, and I feel like I am going to die. My allergies were going wild! I probably easily sneezed over 100 times in 30 minutes. It was ridiculous. But it was still a super solid day. We talked to a pastor and talked to someone who thought we waved them down in their car (when we just wanted to be friendly). It was really good.

I hit 3 months. It seems about that amount of time. Not complaining. It's been fun being a missionary. I love doing what I'm doing. It's been kinda hard sometimes to have the confidence to talk to everyone but it's awesome to see the outcome of my work. To all my other missionary friends, I love you. Can't wait to hear about all your crazy experiences!

Book of Mormon reading: I got to 2 Nephi 20. Pretty solid. I'm planning on getting to Jacob this week.

That's about it. See ya.

Elder Kohl Payne