Garner, North Carolina- June 27

I hope everyone had a good week this week!! Hopefully you are all staying cool and enjoying the summer break!! We have definitely been getting more heat and humidity!! Summer is here y'all!!

This week has been really good!! This week Daisju came home from her trip to Delaware and was able to come to church yesterday!! She loved it!! She is really doing great and on track for baptism! I am so excited for her!! The rest of our investigators are pretty much the same. We are just really trying to help them to progress and continuing to find those that are ready for the gospel!

Something that has been on my mind a lot this week has got to do with the post I posted on Facebook. In Relief Society yesterday, we talked about how we have all had difficult trials in the past. We talked about forgiving and moving on. This week I have really been thinking about the past and how there are so many people that reflect on the past and refuse to forgive others. Something I have really learned to do on my mission is to learn from the past and move on. I love this talk that I found from Elder Ballard, "There are great lessons to be learned from the past, and you ought to learn them so that you don't exhaust your spiritual strength repeating past mistakes and bad choices...Learning the lessons of the past allows you to walk boldly in the light without running the risk of stumbling in the darkness. This is the way it's supposed to work. This is God's plan...Learning the lessons of the past allows you to build personal testimony on a solid bedrock of obedience, faith, and the witness of the spirit." If we continue to run from our past trials/mistakes and not forgive those that have hurt or offended us, then we will continue to exhaust ourselves spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Rafiki says it best, "The past can hurt, but the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it." Let us all learn from the past, forgive others, and move on. The Lord will be with us every step of the way!!!

I love all of you so much!! Thank you for all of the prayers, love, and support. I hope that you all have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

Picture 1: In honor of Lion King's 22nd Birthday on Friday, I wore some Lion King colors!!

Picture 2: Sister Beard and I grabbed lunch at this delicious gas station named Sheetz! We both agree that Sheetz needs to move out West!

Picture 3: You will never guess what happened to me this week! I got lice!!!!! And all I could think about was when Kylee Poulsen got it and we thought we had it!

 

 

 

Garner, North Carolina: June 13

How has everyone been? I hope you are all enjoying your summer vacation! This week has been good. Things are definitely beginning to pick up here in Garner.

This week we met with our investigator Daisju. A couple of weeks ago I felt like we needed to drop her, but we decided to hang on to her for a week or two more. This past week, we committed her to live the Word of Wisdom and she said she would. A couple days later we went to check on her and she was still doing good. That night she called us crying and asked if we could go over. So we went over and she was going through a really hard time and wanted to smoke, but she remembered to call us if she felt like smoking. Anyways, we were able to have a member come and give her a blessing. It was amazing! At the end she took her last cigarette and broke it into pieces!! It was an amazing experience. Since then, there has really been a different feeling about her and in her home because the spirit is able to be there more. This week, we also got trapped at a members house because some construction workers hit a gas line and the police blocked off the exit to their cul-de-sac.....it was quite an adventure!

Something that I have learned this week is about changing our own circumstances and not relying on the Lord to change them. I was reading an article about the enabling power of the Atonement from Elder Bednar and he was talking about different people from The Book of Mormon who had to overcome really difficult challenges. During those challenges, they never asked Heavenly Father to take those challenges from them, but they asked Him to help them to change the circumstances or to help them respond in a better way. Some examples were Nephi and the people of Alma. My favorite is the people of Alma, "To the faithful followers of Alma, who were struggling with heavy persecution from the wicked priest Amulon, the Lord declared, “I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, … that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.” In fulfillment of that wonderful promise, “the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord” (Mosiah 24:14, 15)" This was something that I really needed to hear this week! Life is not easy! It was never meant to be easy!! However, through the enabling power of the Atonement, we are able to bare the challenges of life!! I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have the Atonement. I don't know what I would do on my mission without the Atonement. Missionary work is the hardest thing that I have ever done, but it has been 100% worth it!! Without the enabling power of the Atonement, I would not be able to bare the challenges that I have faced and will face on my mission. I highly suggest reading Elder Bednar's article! I know that the enabling power of the Atonement is real!! I have felt it. Even though the challenges I face have not been taken away, I have felt the burden lift as I pray and ask my Heavenly Father to give me that strength! This week, I hope that you will all come to feel of the enabling power of the Atonement. Constantly be asking for Heavenly Father's help and forgiveness!!

This gospel is truly amazing!! I am so grateful for this time that I have to be sharing it!! I know that this Church is the one and only true church on the earth!! I am so grateful for the Atonement and the Priesthood Authority that we have on the earth today!!

I love you all so much!! I hope that you continue to have a great summer!! Thank you for all of the prayers!! They are definitely needed! :) I continue to pray for all of you as well!! Love you!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

Garner, North Carolina-June 6

This week was good. I can't believe how fast time is going by!! I feel like just yesterday my plane landed in North Carolina, but really that was 6 months ago! It is truly crazy!!

This week we were able to do some more cleaning in our teaching pool. We did quite a bit of tracting and found a couple of investigators. Hopefully they will all continue to progress and desire to learn more. We taught the Plan of Salvation to one of our potentials. Her name is Betty and she loved it!! She was squealing for joy when we told her that she can be married to her deceased husband in the next life as well!! It was so cute!! We have also been really trying to find the elect through members. Our ward is really great at helping us with missionary work so now it is our turn to give back and help them with their missionary work.

This week I have learned a lot about Heavenly Father's timing. Heavenly Father is always trying to teach us new things, but He is always doing it in His timing. Sometimes we want time to either go faster or slower. I know I catch myself at times wishing that time would go faster so that I could reach the end results/rewards quicker. However, I have learned that it won't matter how fast or how slow time is going, Heavenly Father's lessons will be taught on His time table not ours. In Ether 12:6 it says "...I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." Trials are given to us so that we can learn and grow. That is how our faith grows. However, simply grinning and bearing it will not work. We have to be acting and doing the things that Heavenly Father wants us to do. We have to be sacrificing ourselves for Him.

I hope that you all have a great week!! I love hearing from everyone and seeing how you all are doing! Thank you for all of your love and prayers!! You are all the greatest! I love and miss you so much!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

Facebook Post - June 10 (Garner)

What an honor and a privilege it has been to be a missionary for our Heavenly Father! I have loved the journey that I have been on for the last 6 months. It amazes me how fast time is going by. I have learned and grown so much on my mission! My mission has definitely been one of the hardest experiences I have gone through, but it has definitely been worth it, 100%!! I am truly grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ! Without the gospel, I would not be where I am today!!
"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.
Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work"

-Doctrine and Covenants 4:2-3
‪#‎NCRM‬