March 28-Jacksonville, North Carolina

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!!! I loved getting to celebrate the Savior and the sacrifice that he made for all of us!! This week has been a good week.

Monday, we had a combined District activity! We played Quidditch!! It was a lot of fun! The rules were quite confusing, but it was still fun!! That night we ate dinner with the Miller's and had a small family home evening. We met with the Adkins, one of the less active families we work with. We had a really good lesson with them about the Atonement!

Tuesday, we saw Joyce!! She is doing good, but is not progressing. We have given her three questions to ask in her prayers and she has been asking them!! However, she says she hasn't received an answer yet. Cute Sister Jarman took us to see one of our new investigators who unfortunately was not home. Her roommate was though and we talked with her for a little bit. She has actually been to temple square and been to the Visitor's Center. We told her about The Book of Mormon, but she was not quite interested. The rest of the night just consisted of stopping by potentials and less actives.

Wednesday, we went on exchanges! Our new Sister Training Leader is actually Sister Salakielu. So, I just went to the other area in Jacksonville with Sister Sally's companion, Sister Pitt. We did a lot of tracting in the sun!! I got a very light tan but hey at least I tanned!! That night we met with one of their investigators who is great!! We also met with a less active they are working with!

Thursday, we exchanged back. We ate dinner with the Johnson's! They are like our second family out here!! They help us with a lot of missionary work!! That night, we met with Falon and Patrick. We had really good lessons with both of them!!

Friday, we went tracting. We went to an apartment complex close to our appointment and then, knocked on doors. We found a couple of potentials, no investigators though. After tracting, we had an appointment with a less active named Lana. She is from Logan! She is really nice and her husband is a non-member so we are hoping to see if he is interested in taking the discussions. That night we ate dinner with the Bishop's family. We had Chicken and Pastries....it was delicious!!! That night, we invited Krisi (Makayla's mom) to be our member present at Vanessa's lesson, but Vanessa no showed. So, we ended up talking to Krisi for almost two hours about different concerns she has. It was great!!!

Saturday, we did some more tracting. We tried to have a Facebook lesson with Vanessa since we haven't been able to get up with her lately. However, as usual she was pretty busy!!  That night was the General Women's Broadcast!! There was a dinner before which was good. I loved the broadcast though! I loved that the message was all about serving because I was able apply several points into my missionary service!!

Sunday, we had a really good time at church. Many of the less actives we are working with came as well as Falon's non-member husband and friends!! Falon played the violin with two of the youth in our ward and it was beautiful. After church, we had a really great lesson with Michelle and Jeremy! I am going to be really sad when they move back to Utah!!! After that, Damien got baptized!!! Damien is Makayla's 8 year old brother. I have loved working with their family and love getting to see them progress!!

Overall, we have had a really great week!! Hopefully this week will be even better! I hope everyone back home has a good week!! I love and miss you all!!

Sister Paynter  

 March 21-Jacksonville, North Carolina

I hope everyone has had a good week! This week has been great! I have loved working with Sister Smedley! We have been getting a lot of work done here in Jacksonville, which is great!!

Monday we went "window" shopping with the other sisters in our district. We went to Target and Barnes & Noble, it was so much fun!! We had a really good lesson with our investigator Vanessa that night!! In her prayer, she talked about how she has felt really good as she has been meeting with us! She still hasn't been to church yet so this next Sunday we will be working on that one!!

Tuesday, we had an appointment with potential named Herbert! We had a really good lesson with him about the Restoration!! He seemed to be really receptive, but because he is older it seems to take him a little bit of time to process the information we teach. He was also really intrigued by The Book of Mormon and said that he would definitely look into it! We met with Joyce that day as well. We got her to kneel down, pray to Heavenly Father and specifically ask if the church is true and if she should be baptized on May 15!! We can't wait to hear how things went this week!! That night we went to Bob and Amy's. Amy wasn't home and since we didn't have another adult female with us, we ended up sitting outside on their patio with Bob, Zain, Cameron, and Keara. We had a really good lesson about following Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, we went back over to Bob and Amy's because Amy wanted us to teach her as well. We talked with her about what we could to help her family to progress. They still haven't been coming to church, so we talked with her about giving her family a church tour and she loved it!! For the remainder of our time with her, we talked about temples and the importance of them. We could tell that she would really love to be able to go to the temple someday!! I have really enjoyed working with their family! I am so glad that Heavenly Father put them into our path so that we could teach them!! That night, we met with a new less active, her name is Sister Valentin and she is awesome. She has only been inactive for year but has a very strong testimony of the church! She showed us her craft room.....and I about died!! It was so amazing!! We also met with Falon that night!

Thursday, we met with a little boy in the ward who just turned 8 and is scared to get baptized. We taught him about baptism and then we even showed him the font and let him go in and see how high up the water would be. He asked us if he could get baptized that day, it was super cute. We had dinner with Christina and had a good lesson with them about Patriarchal blessings. Their lesson reminded me of how important my blessing is. I am so grateful for the "road map" that Heavenly Father has provided me with. I need to read it more often as I am on my mission, because the times that I have read it while on my mission, it has given me a lot of comfort.

Friday, we went to the temple!!! I loved getting to go to the temple!! The Raleigh temple is so small! It only has 1 endowment room. Being able to go to the temple gave me a lot of peace and comfort. I loved being able to feel the spirit and feel closer to my Heavenly Father. I am grateful for temples!!

Saturday, we did a lot of tracting!! We found 1 new investigator who seems like a solid investigator!! That night we had dinner with cute Sister Jarman. She is the cutest little old lady in our ward and reminds me of Grandma Brown!! She is stinking adorable!!!

Sunday, we went and stopped by less actives with the Johnson's. After that, we received a bible referral for a girl named MEGHAN....spelled the same way!! We delivered the bible that night with the Bishop's wife and she loved what we shared about The Book of Mormon and became a new investigator!!

This week, has been a really great week!! I have loved the beautiful weather we have been getting. All of the trees and flowers are beginning to blossom and it is so pretty!! I will have to send some pictures of the trees next week! I hope everybody has a good week!! I love all of you so much!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

Sunday, March 20 - Sunday Facebook Post 

Look who I found on Facebook tonight!

#Hallelujah Video—Find New Life

Though Jesus Christ was crucified, He rose from the dead. This Easter, find out how, through Jesus Christ, we too can find new life. Watch this video to learn…

Sister-Meghan Paynter

https://www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah
I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of my Savior. I am so grateful for the sacrifice that he made for me! It brings me great peace in my life to know that because of Him, I too will be able to live again and that I will be reunited with my loved ones that have passed on one day. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and the love that he has shown me by sending His only begotten Son to suffer "...pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind...that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." (Alma 7:11-12 in The Book of Mormon) I am grateful for The Book of Mormon and the second witness that it gives to me that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love all of us so much. I am so grateful for the knowledge and the testimony that I have of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am grateful to know that it is the exact same church that Christ established on the earth when he was here and has been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to spread this great message as a full-time missionary. I love my Savior!! Hallelujah!! ‪#‎Hallelujah‬

March 15-Jacksonville, North Carolina

 

I can't believe I have finished the first week in my 3rd transfer!! Time has really gone by fast!! I hope everyone is doing well! This week has been such a great week!!!

Monday, we went to the beach!! It was a little colder this time so we tried to keep warm on the benches. It was still so much fun and very beautiful!! Sister Scribner, Sister Salakielu, and I made matching shirts and then wore Red, White, and Blue bandanas!! We had a blast!!!

Tuesday, Sister Salakielu and I said goodbye to Sister Scribner and then planned to clean the apartment and our cars, so that everything was ready for our new companions!! However, the Elders ended up volunteering us to drive to Raleigh and help pick up the new missionaries. It was a 3 hour car drive....and lots of miles lost for the month!! (We are only allowed a certain of miles to drive per month.) It was 85 degrees in Raleigh!!! The heat made us exhausted!! It was fun getting to see some of the other missionaries that I came out with though at transfers! I also had fun meeting Sister Smedley!! She is from Layton, UT! That night we had a lesson with Bob, Amy, Cameron, and Keara. We finished teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went very well!!

Wednesday, we had Zone Training in Wilimington. We had a really great meeting and then for lunch, our senior couple took our district to get pizza at Costco. While we waited for the pizza, we walked around Costco and got samples!!! It was a lot of fun! When we got home, we went out and did a lot of tracting. While we were tracting, we found a new investigator named Elena!! We will meet with her this Saturday!! We ate dinner with the Johnson's which is always so much fun!! That night, we met with Falon! I love meeting with Falon! She is always so kind. She has also promised us that she will be having us over for dinner this month and is going to make home-made fried chicken!!

Thursday, we did our weekly planning and then had dinner with Sister Mitchell.With Sister Mitchell, we stopped by Robert's to see how he was doing and introduce him to Sister Smedley. After Robert's, we met with the Adkins family. I love meeting with the Adkins and seeing them progress, now we just need to get them to church!!

Friday, we went and stopped by a lot of less actives that a member in the ward wanted us to check on. That night, we met with Krisi, Makayla, and Damien. They are doing great!! We have been challenging Makayla to be a missionary to her friends! Last week, she gave a Book of Mormon to her friend and this week, we challenged her to invite a non-member friend to church in 30 days! She loves accepting our challenges!!

Saturday, we did some more tracting. It was like 85 degrees today, so we were sweating a lot!! We met with Christina who is making progress!! She told us that she was coming to church on Sunday...no EXCUSES!!! That night, we went out with Sister Johnson and stopped by some potentials. One of them said she was fine, but as we pulled away she waved for us to come back. We ended up teaching her and her daughter a little bit about the priesthood and the atonement! They invited us to come back next week!! We are really excited!!

Sunday, we stopped by less actives on base with Sister Johnson. One of the less actives invited us back on Wednesday and seems really nice! We are pretty sure that her husband is not a member. Part member families are Gold mines in the mission field!! For dinner, we ate with the Gabbert family. They remind me so much of our family when we were younger!! It was a lot of fun!!!

This past week has been such a great week!! I can't wait to see what this week will be like!! Hopefully we will be getting our Easter initiative cards to begin handing out!! #Hallelujah

I hope everyone has a good week!! I can't wait to hear from all of you!! I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 

 Package from Disney World! You are the best Lindsey!

 February 29-Jacksonville, North Carolina

How is everyone doing this week? I hope all is well for all of you, wherever you may be.

This week has been one crazy week!!

Monday, Sister Alldredge had a ton of packing to do so we stayed home for most of the morning while she packed. The rest of the day was spent mailing her packages home and figuring out how to ship her bike home. That night we stopped by a lot of our less active's and investigator's homes so that Sister Alldredge could say bye and get a picture with all of them.

Tuesday, we went to lunch with Sister Parker and Joyce. We always have so much fun with those two!! After lunch, Sister Parker took us to see a few more less actives that Sister Alldredge wanted to say goodbye to. We had dinner with the Johnson's that night and had a lot of fun with them. That night we went to see Bob, Amy, Zain, Cameron, and Keara! We had a really great lesson with them on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Wednesday, I said goodbye to Sister Alldredge and then the trio began! Me, Sister Salakielu, and Sister Scribner went to visit Krisi, Makayla, and Damien that afternoon. We began Makayla's new member lessons which was pretty exciting!

Thursday, we went and visited with an investigator that Sister Salakielu and Sister Scribner have been teaching. We also stopped by a couple of less actives that are in their ward. That night, we met with a part member family that lives on base.

Friday, we did our weekly planning and then in the afternoon, we had 2nd transfer call-in. For 2nd transfer call-in, we were basically on a conference call with President James and the other missionaries that came out the same day I did. That night, a member from the Jacksonville 3rd ward took us on base to the commissary to get Panda Express for dinner! In North Carolina, they do not have any good Chinese restaurants so we were all very excited to get Panda Express. That night we met with Falon and had a really great discussion about temples.

Saturday, the Jacksonville 2nd ward Elders had a baptism so we were able to attend that. We were also able to attend Sister Diaz's wedding! Sister Diaz is a recent convert that feeds us dinner every other week or so. She married a non-member from India! The ceremony was really interesting. The bishop kept talking about eternal marriage and his goals for them to one day be sealed in the temple, it was great!! The rest of the day we spent in Richlands stopping by less actives and potentials. That evening, we met with Krisi, Makayla, and Damien again. That night we also received transfer news. My new companion will be Sister Smedley! She trained Sister Franco who came out with me, so I have met her at a few meetings and she seems really great!!

Sunday, we had stake conference. They broadcasted it from Wilmington and it wasn't very good quality. For the whole first hour, you couldn't even hear what they were saying so several people left. On the bright side, Falon came and she stayed the whole time!!! That night we went with Sister Mitchell to visit our less active Sharron. We had a really good discussion with them about how much Heavenly Father loves us and that it is never to late to be forgiven. We showed them the Mormon Message, Painted in a Corner. This Mormon Message is really good and highly recommend it!!

This week has really been crazy, but it has also been a lot of fun! I've really enjoyed working in a trio!!

I hope that everyone has a great week this week!! I love you all and miss you so much!!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 February 29-Jacksonville, North Carolina

How has the week been?!?! Today it is almost 80 degrees here.....at the end of February....WHAT?!?!

This week has been a really good week!!

Monday after emailing, we went to Hobby Lobby!!! I felt like I was home!!!!! Tonight, we had dinner with the Miller's. It was a lot of fun! I always like going over there. After dinner, we met with the Adkins family!! They are a less active family that we have been working with. The dad has only been baptized for about 2 years. Each week they keep progressing really well, so hopefully this week we can get them to CHURCH!!

Tuesday, we got a lot of the preparation stuff done for Makayla's baptism. For dinner, Sister Parker took us to Cracker Barrel!! Sister Alldredge had never been before!!! I had a chicken BLT sandwich that was delicious and then, of course, I ordered hashbrown casserole on the side!!!

Wednesday was Makayla's baptism!! Tuesday night, we received a text message that there was a tornado warning for Wednesday.....we were not too thrilled to hear that. It was pretty windy all day and the clouds were moving so fast!! Everyone kept texting us and asking if the baptism was still going to happen. We said that unless a physical tornado touches down in Jacksonville, this baptism is not going to be cancelled!! By the time everyone started coming to the church, the storm had died down! It was miracle!! The wind even stopped! The baptism was so good!!! That night we had an appointment with our less active Falon. She ended up basically bearing her testimony to us and it was amazing!!! She is determined to come back!!!

Thursday, we stopped by Robert's with Sister Mitchell. Nothing really happened there, but he did say he would come to church to say goodbye to Sister Alldredge. After that, we met with Patrick again. He still isn't really progressing so we may have to drop him but we did find out that he is not really angry at the LDS church, just religion in general.

Friday, we saw Joyce! I don't know if I told you, but she had texted us a week or two ago and asked us not to come by. It turns out, she had pushed everyone away that week!! We had a really good talk with her. That night we had dinner with sweet little Sister Smith and she invited a non-member boy to come and eat with us! We watched Finding Faith in Christ and he seemed to really enjoy it. For the rest of the night we went and stopped by some less actives on base with Sister Johnson.

Saturday, we stopped by a lot of potentials trying to find an investigator and clean up our teaching pool. After that we had an appointment with our investigator Vanessa. She is an amazing investigator!!! She talked about how ever since we told her that in the future we would be inviting her to stop drinking wine, she has been trying to stop.....we haven't even invited her to do it yet!! She also said that she has really loved the feelings that she has been feeling as she has met with us. Many of her friends who know she is meeting with us have told her to just join another church and she has told them that she has tried other churches and none of them have felt right!! She is scheduled to be baptized on April 9th and she is definitely looking forward to it!! That night we met with a less active family and then ended up waiting at the church for a half hour for our other appointment. She ended up not showing up and texting us to tell us that she was in Wilmington (2 hours away)....not happy.

Sunday Makayla was confirmed! It was such a neat experience. We gave her a CTR necklace with a ballerina on it and she loved it!! We met with Michelle and Jeremy after church, they are still making an effort to get into the habit of scripture reading and this week they will be trying to come to church!! The rest of the day was spent stopping by less actives and another potential.

I am so glad to hear that everyone is doing well!!! I love getting everyone's emails and hearing about the new things that go on.

This week Sister Alldredge goes home so I will be working in a trio with the other sisters in my district since Sister Alldredge is going home 6 days earlier. I think it is going to be a lot of fun. One of the sisters that I will be working with is actually the cousin of one of my friends from Snow!! 

I hope everyone has a good week!! I love all of you so much and miss you all!!!

Sister Paynter

P.S. You might not want to send letters or packages for about two weeks, just in case I get transferred!

 

 

My "little" DISNEY fanatic...