Transfers

Wow! What a wild and wacky week. Let's jump right into it!
So last week we talked about the death of Sister Bair. May she rest in peace. To celebrate Elder Rice and Elder Tyler leaving to different areas and Sister Bair leaving to go home, we went to Greens. The best food place here in the Temple area. So so good. Had district lunch/breakfast, we were there at 10 in the morning! Greens never disappoints.

After the glorious Greens trip, we went to the church and played the classic chair soccer, beat a piñata then, we officially said goodbye to Sister Bair before she drove down to the mission home. Got one final picture as a district:

What a good end to the transfer and what a good way to end.

I said that I would be getting boots last P-day. Well, I lied. I looked at some good ones, tried them on, and then decided that I will wait and ponder. BUT, today is the day, I will be getting them today. That is for sure. So, next monday, be ready!

On Elder Rice's last day in the Temple area we had 2 really cool things happen, that just made it an even better way to end his time here.

First

We had been stopping by this less-active family for awhile now. The minstering Brothers and Sisters have been having a hard time getting in and actually talking to them. We stopped by a little bit before General Conference and shared a message about General Conference coming up. We then texted them, and had pretty solid contact here and there. We then decided to stop by, on this last day. Right as we were about to drive away after an unsuccessful contact, a car pulled into the driveway! We talk to the dad and he said he had been thinking about getting his kid baptized. Wow. How cool is that!? We definitely needed to be there at that time.

Second

When I first got here on my mission, there was a couple that we were teaching. I had never met them and Elder Rice and I stopped by quite often. We went 12 weeks not having a successful contact with the couple. As we were driving home, we decided to stop by, because why not? We noticed that both the cars were there. We knock and they answer. They let us inside and we had a great impromptu lesson. They said they would start coming to church and all the good stuff! So thats pretty awesome!

Now for the event you have all been waiting for. . .

Transfers

Elder Rice and I had T-Valley in the morning, then he finished packing and we headed down to Pflugerville! We arrive and there are so many missionaries in the Church parking lot. It's crazy how there are so many more than who I see in my area. Said goodbye to Elder Rice, packed up Elder Giuffra's things in the car and headed back up to Temple. I've missed driving. It's been fun but also terrifying leading the area.

At night before we go to bed the apartment gets together and we plank. We do 1 minute, 1 minute, then 2 minutes. What made it better is that we started listening to a fireside devotional from the 80's about Witchcraft. It's pretty interesting. Somethings are a little "eehhh, I don't know about that one." but the beginning is good. Very good discussion while we plank. Lots of good insights about casting out demons and stuff like that. It's a pretty fun topic of conversation.

One night we went to a house of one of our members. I had never been to their house before but we just decided to stop by. We go knock on the door and they let us in. We had a really good talk with them and gave the wife a blessing. We are leaving the house and I notice something looking at me from the roof. I look up and see these eyes staring back at me. There was a dog just chillin on the roof! The member said something like, "Oh yeah he does that. You should see when the big dog gets up there." We were laughing and laughing! Homie was just chillin on the roof.
Now, I won't just leave y'all hanging. I got a picture of course.

Elder Giuffra and I were doing some contacts towards the end of the night and we saw a man working on his car in his garage. We go up to him and talk about the car. We then tell him who we are and what we do. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read it. All good stuff! After we hand him the Book of Mormon, his daughter runs inside, grabs something and runs out and gives it to us. We got a balloon animal! I think a Book of Mormon for a balloon animal is a fair trade!

Happy Mothers Day! I hope you told your moms how much you love them.

It's been a good week and we have a good week to come. Keep reading your scriptures and praying!

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