January 11-Jacksonville, North Carolina

How is everyone!?! I love getting everybody's weekly updates! It sounds like Christmas Break was a lot of fun!!
On Monday, for P-day, we were not able to go to the beach for our District activity so we went bowling instead which was a lot of fun!!! One of the Elders gave us all of our "bowling names". Mine was artist because my last name is Paynter......ok? Haha! After bowling we had dinner with the McCarty's! They are a family in the ward and they have the cutest little boy who is about Carson's age and acts a lot like Carson! It was great!! That night we had an appointment with Joyce. The appointment went really well. I really hope that we continue to help her break the habits she needs to break before being baptized!

On Tuesday, we went on several stop-bys with Sister Parker. After that, we went to Lester's and taught her the Plan of Salvation. That was really great because I got to lead in that lesson! That night we had an appointment with the Brooks family! I really enjoy meeting with them! They have a lot of potential and I can't wait to see what their futures hold! Bob, the father, is so funny! We end up laughing for most of the lesson because he is always telling jokes!

On Wednesday, we made an effort to contact several of the Headquarters referrals that we received this week. Unfortunately, we did not make a lot of progress with any of them. After that, we had an appointment with Christina who is one of our recent converts. We have really been trying to get her excited about attending the temple and she is, but she isn't making the effort that she needs to be able to go to the temple. That night, we had a feeling that we needed to stop by Robert's. Luckily Elder and Sister Brooks were able to come with us and we had a really great lesson with him about baptism again. We've all been praying really hard for him, so we can't wait to see how our next appointment goes.

On Thursday, we had weekly planning so we didn't get out until after dinner. That night we visited the Adkins family who is a less active family in the ward. We had a really great time meeting with them. We taught them about temples and they got really excited about being able to be sealed together. Hopefully we can make more progress with them in the next couple of weeks.

On Friday, we went to my very first Zone Conference. President James, gave several good instructions! My favorite was when we talked about how important it is to help investigators see that baptism is not the end. We need to help them get to the temple soon after they are baptized! We have been trying to make an effort to get all of our investigators to see the joy that comes from attending the temple! We haven't seen much progress in our investigators yet, but we are not giving up!

After Zone Conference, we went on exchanges again! So on Saturday, I was in Hampstead again! While on exchanges I got to practice teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a recent convert. At first it was a little difficult, but once I got the flow of things it went really well!! After we exchanged back, Sister Alldredge and I met with the Donadio family. We taught them about baptism and Mckayla and Damian both began to decide what day they want to get baptized!! Next time we meet with them, they should have dates chosen out!!

Yesterday, we really just made a lot of stop bys with Sister Mitchell. Today, we have a Zone Activity in Wilmington which will be a lot of fun!

I hope all is well!! Again, thank you all for all of the love and support that you have given me! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be serving a mission. I truly have learned so much! I know that this church is true! Every member is a missionary! Do not forget that! Members cooperation really is an essential part to the work that all of us are trying to accomplish!! Continue to spread the gospel whenever possible. And if possible, help out the local missionaries in ANY way possible! It truly is a blessing when the members go out of their way to help us!! I love you all!!!

Sister Paynter