Garner, North Carolina: May 30

This week was good. We are really trying to get the work moving along. We were able to find a couple of new investigators as well as find some potentials. This week, instead of going through my day to day schedule, I want to share with you what I have learned this week. In fact, I feel like sharing my day to day experiences is getting old. So from now on, I will just talk about a couple of our investigators, their progress, and something I learned that week.

This week, we found a new investigator named Phyllis. I was on exchanges with our Sister Training Leader and we tracted in an area that had already been tracted. When we met Phyllis, she told us that she was invited by previous missionaries to attend our church and she did. Phyllis said that she really enjoyed it and would love to learn more about what we believe.

This last week, I have really been noticing that many of our investigators are not progressing. I have been in this area for 6 weeks and I have not seen a single investigator come to church or follow through with commitments. I have also noticed that we have really been struggling with finding new investigators. One thing I learned while I was in Jacksonville, was that as we prayerfully consider who we need to work with and clean up our teaching pool, we are able to find more of those people that are ready to progress. This can be applied to our day to day lives. Sometimes, we have things that are keeping us from receiving all that Heavenly Father wants us to receive. Those things may be people in our lives who are not good influences for us, tv shows and movies that drive away the spirit, not going to church and partaking of the sacrament, not keeping the Sabbath Day holy, looking at and reading inappropriate material, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. The list goes on and on, but so does the list of blessings that Heavenly Father is waiting to give us. We need to be prayerfully considering where we are at in our spiritual life. Are we allowing Heavenly Father to pour down His blessings upon us, or are we holding up our umbrellas and not allowing his blessings to pour down on us? Here is the link to a Mormon Message that I have been thinking about a lot  lately and demonstrates this principle. https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-03-009-a-shower-of-heavenly-blessings?lang=eng

I hope that you will all take time this week to prayerfully consider what is keeping you from receiving the blessings that Heavenly Father desires to bless you with.

I hope that you all have a great week!! I really am so grateful to be apart of this marvelous work and wonder! I wish you all a Happy Memorial Day!! Love you!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 

 

May 23-Garner, North Carolina

This week was an amazing week! We were able to get out and do a lot of work. We were also visited by Elder Zwick from the Quorum of the Seventy this week.

Monday, we had a lot of fun! We had a district activity and went to visit the Buddhist temple in Knightdale. It was really neat to listen to the Monk and learn about the beliefs that they have. That night, we ate dinner with the Fox family. Sister Fox grew up in the Jacksonville 2nd Ward and knows a lot of the people from the ward!! After dinner, we stopped by potentials and found a former investigator that was very excited to see us. She said that she and her husband were talking about the church the other day. It was definitely inspired!

Tuesday, we stopped by some more potentials and did some tracting in the areas we were in. While we were tracting, it started to rain very hard!! We were drenched! It was a lot of fun though!! That night we stopped at another potential and she let us in. We ended up talking about the restoration and she expressed how she wished that everyone would just belong to one church! We are going to meet with her again this week!

Wednesday, we went on a blitz with our Sister Training Leaders. A blitz is when the four of us split up and stay in the same area for just a couple of hours and go tracting. I went with Sister Hanseen and we went to this trailer park. There was a referral that the Elders had given us that lived in there so we tried her first. Unfortunately she was not home, but the rest of her family was and they let us in. We taught the restoration to them and they agreed to learn more! We truly saw miracles unfold during the blitz. Sister Beard went with Sister Steenhoek and found a girl whose cousins are mormons! We are going to see her this week too.

Thursday, Sister Beard had a doctor's appointment so we went to Durham with our mission nurse and her husband. It was fun getting to know them. For the rest of the day, we did some potential work and street contacting. We found one lady that lives out of our mission so we sent her information to the missionaries in the area that she lives in.

Friday was our big Zone Conference with Elder Zwick. He talked a lot about member missionary work and how we should be working with the members. He also taught us about teaching and testifying boldly and simply. Sister Zwick taught us about the Atonement. I loved her talk because it was what I really needed that day. She talked about how we need to be using the Atonement everyday and giving ourselves to the Lord everyday. As we do those things, the Lord will help make up the difference. That can definitely be applied to everyone not just missionaries. As we turn to the Lord, He will help us.

Saturday, we did our weekly planning since we weren't able to do it the past two days. In the evening, we met with our recent converts Phara and John and taught them about the importance of doing the little things like reading from the Book of Mormon everyday. 

Sunday, we had ward council and they all seemed to be really on board with member missionary work. They too had a meeting with Elder Zwick and he really encouraged and uplifted the members. In the afternoon, we stopped by some potentials and did some tracting. While tracting, we found a new investigator named Crystal. We talked with her about why there are so many churches and did a little bit of the restoration. We are going to see her later this week.

This week has really been a great week. I definitely had my struggles this week, but I know that the Lord is there helping me every step of the way. If I learned one thing this week, it is that we need to ensure that we are strengthening our testimonies every single day! We should, no we NEED to be reading from The Book of Mormon EVERY DAY and asking Heavenly Father if it is true. Then, go out and SHARE it! As we share our testimonies, they are strengthened. Sharing our testimonies may seem scary, but it is as simple as just telling someone that you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Satan is strengthening his armies now more than ever! Even the elect will fall! I plead with all of you to do whatever you can to ensure that your testimony is strong enough to withstand the Adversary. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I ask Heavenly Father everyday to help me to know that it is and he has. I am grateful for modern day prophets and for the guidance and direction that they give us in these wicked days. The last days are NOW and we need to prepare ourselves with the Armor of God!

I love all of you so much! I am grateful for all your love and support. I hope that you will all have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Paynter  

This week has been good. We weren't able to do as much work as we had hoped to do, but we did have a good week.

Monday, we ate dinner with a returning less active. Her name is Sister Silva and is from Mexico. She made us tamales, bean soup, and horchata. It was pretty delicious!! It was also fun imagining Jordan eating a similar meal in Mexico! That night, we stopped by the Luckinbill's. They are a family of investigators that we are working with but has been very difficult to get up with. Hopefully this week we will be able to meet with them.

Tuesday, many of our appointments fell through. In the morning after studies, we went over to a member's home with a less active to help paint the upstairs of her home. It was a lot of fun and very therapeutic...haha! In the afternoon we saw our investigator Barbra. She is very nice and open to listening, but I don't really know how well she is comprehending the things that we are teaching her. After Barbra's, we went to see Daisju. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she seemed to really enjoy what we taught! After dinner, we tried stopping by potentials.

Wednesday, we had interviews with President and Sister James. I loved getting to meet with both of them! They are great! For dinner, we ate with the Holt family! I love eating with them. Our investigator Courtney and her children were supposed to come, but when Sister Holt went to pick them up, they were not home. Sister Holt did however, invite some of their non-member friends over and they seem like some great potentials!! They were very nice and super funny! After dinner, we went and visited a new part member less active family! We only met with Sister Feaster the less active member, but it was great! She was so sweet! We talked about Harry Potter for a good couple of minutes! She has a great testimony though! She used to live in Draper and had no idea that they got a temple!! So we showed her the Draper temple. Then, we realized that she didn't know about most of the new temples in Utah. So, we showed her a lot of them. We even showed her the video about the Provo City Center Temple! It was great!

May 15 - Garner, North Carolina

 

Thursday most of our appointments fell through, but we were able to go and see this referral that a member had given us. She has a new little baby boy named Anderson. He was so cute!! For dinner, we ate with the Daughenbaugh's. Brother Daughenbaugh is our Ward Mission Leader. They are a great family! Sister Daughenbaugh works at the High School and after dinner, she took us to see the new High School that is opening up next year. It was so big, it looked like a hospital!!

Friday, was our not so good day. We had an appointment at 2 that would have really helped us out, but they cancelled. We were able to get weekly planning done that day and were able to talk about a lot of things which was great! That night we went out and did some store contacting! It was so much fun! What we did was we would go to like Target and walk around the baby department, toy department, and kitchen department because obviously that is where you find families!! We would walk around and then just casually start conversations with people in those departments. We were able to meet new people and hand out 3 pass-along cards! It was great!

Saturday, we tried to contact our investigator Courtney. We stopped by in the morning and she was at work. We came back at 3 because that is when she was supposed to get off. Her kids were outside and told us mixed stories of where she was at. Once the older kids had gone off with friends, the youngest told us basically that she was home and didn't want to talk to us. That was not too fun... We were able to stop by more potentials though and found a couple of them that want us to come back! For dinner, we ate with the Brown family! That night was Rose Prom aka Mormon Prom, so Sister Beard helped their daughter Cylie with her make-up and hair. It was fun. I helped braid her hair back, but that was about all I could really do well haha! Down the road from the Brown's, we found a less active part member family!! Their names are Ron and Signa. Ron is the member and he wasn't home, but we met Signa and she let us in and we talked with her for a good hour or so. They want to go out to Utah next year to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, so we told her to try to see the Christmas concert! We talked about Salt Lake City for a long time. We found out that they have a niece on a mission in Paraguay. I can't wait to go back, she was so great!!

Sunday, we went to church! After church, we had a coordination meeting with all of the ward missionaries. We did a lot of planning for the Ward Variety Show that we are putting on. It is going to be a lot of fun!! For dinner, we ate with the Barnette family! That was my first time eating with them and they were great! After dinner we stopped  by some less actives and members.

I hope everyone has had a great week!! I can't believe that school is almost out for all of you! Thank you for all of your love and support!! Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 

 

 May 9-Garner, North Carolina

I hope everyone had a really great Mother's Day! I sure loved getting to see all of you and talking to you! This week we had a decent week!

Monday, we met with one of the Elders' old investigators, Gennia, and she wants to keep taking the lessons. Hopefully we will be able to help her progress. We also met a less active that we thought had moved, but she is still there.

Tuesday, we met with our investigator Courtney. Courtney and her two oldest children have baptismal dates which will be exciting. That night we ate with the Wilson family! They were a lot of fun. They asked me like a thousand questions! Their 11 year old son reminds me of Jacob!

Wednesday, we had District Meeting. On our way to our meeting, the Elder over vehicles called us and told us that we were getting a new car! So, after District Meeting we met up with the assistants and they gave us our new red Corolla. We named it Mushu!!

Thursday, we ate lunch with the Family Search volunteer in our ward. For the rest of the day, we did weekly planning. That night, we went and taught the Restoration to a family in our ward. It was a lot of fun!

Friday, we had lunch with Sister Rummage. In the afternoon, we finished up with some weekly planning and then went to see our investigator Iris. We talked to her about the Restoration and why baptism by proper authority is important. That night, we met one of the Elders' potential investigators they passed on to us. We are going to meet with her again later this week. We also went to see our recent converts Phara and John. They are both great people! They are working hard on getting to the temple!

Saturday, we had coordination in the morning and then in the afternoon, we stopped by several potentials and less actives. In the evening, we stopped by some more and went over to a member's home to help them with their family mission plan. 

Sunday after church, we went and took brownies and roses to some of our investigators! It was a lot of fun! For the rest of the night, obviously, we Skyped home!! I loved getting to see all of you! I also loved getting to see Jordan for a little bit!! It was definitely a tender mercy to see all of you!

This week we are hoping for things to pick up! I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are helping us out! Missions are definitely not easy but they are 100% worth it! I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your love and support!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 

 

May 2-Jacksonville, North Carolina

How is everybody doing? This last week I was transferred to Garner, North Carolina and I love it!! It is prettier than Jacksonville. My companion is Sister Beard and she is great!

Monday, for District activity, we went to Onslow Beach on base. We were able to find a lot of shark teeth!! Before our District Activity, we had to get an oil change so Sister Lee took us shopping with her. That night, we met with a new less active family and then went to say goodbye to Krisi and the kids. It was sad to say goodbye to them! I loved working with them and will miss them dearly!!!

Tuesday, Sister Pitt and I drove up to Raleigh at 5:30 in the morning because she had to be there at 8 since she is training a new missionary. Our companions stayed behind with members to go to the appointments we had scheduled. Transfers were not until 1! So, I just stayed in the mission office and helped them with a few chores. Finally, 1 o'clock came around and I was able to find out that I was being transferred to Garner with Sister Beard. Garner is right outside of Raleigh, so you can see the big buildings in the skyline! We first went to meet the bishop and he is great! He loves missionary work and loves missionaries! That night we went to dinner at a members home and then went and stopped by potentials and less actives.

Wednesday, we had our District Meeting in Knightdale. The church building there is a new building so it is set up just like our building in Springville!! For lunch, we went out to eat as a district at Chik-Fil-A! In the afternoon, we stopped by some more potentials. In the evening, we went to the church for mutual so that I could meet more members from the ward!!

Thursday, we had weekly planning and then went to do service for one of our investigators, Kimberly! She is so sweet and loves to call us by our first names because it feels more personal to her! For dinner, we with a family in the ward and played the LDS Seek game. It was a lot of fun. That night, we tried stopping by a couple of investigators that have not been keeping appointments.

So in Garner, they took the English speaking Elders out and put Spanish speaking Elders in because there is a high Latino population here. So, the English speaking Elders gave us all of their English investigators and potentials. So on Friday, we went and met with a couple of the investigators and they were all interested in continuing to learn about the Gospel!

On Saturday, we had coordination with the Elders and our Ward Mission Leader, who is amazing! It is going to be great having someone so invested in Missionary Work! That day, we did some tracting and found several solid potentials that we are going to go back to next week.

On Sunday, I got to meet the rest of the ward and they all seem amazing!! For the rest of the afternoon, we stopped by potentials and less actives. One of the potentials we stopped by is named Betty and she is the sweetest little old lady! We are going to go back next week and teach her a lesson! That night, we had dinner with another family in the ward, the Tait's. They used to live in Maryland and they know Dr. Marshall and Dr. Swenson our dentists because when they were in dental school, Brother Tait was their bishop! Small world!! After dinner, we stopped by two potentials who are from Israel. They let us in and we taught them the Restoration. They seemed to find it very interesting. We set up an appointment to go over next week! They are great!!

I am really loving Garner!! It is so beautiful here and the ward is great!! I have loved getting to know Sister Beard!! I can tell that I am really going to like it here!!

Thank you so much for all of your love and support!! I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

My New Address is:

925 Bryan Place #A3

Garner, North Carolina

27529