Lumberton, North Carolina - February 13, 2017

Hello family and friends! I hope you have all had a really great week this week! My time here in Lumberton has gone by in the blink of an eye!! I can't believe that I have been here for 6 months!! Monday night, President James called to ask if I would be a Sister Training Leader in Pembroke. Pembroke is only like 20 miles to the west of Lumberton! I won't even be leaving Robeson county. I am really excited!!!! The people here in Robeson county are very prepared to hear the gospel!!

This week has been really good. It has also been an emotional roller coaster haha!! This week, Danny's brother told Danny that if he got baptized, he would take him off the family will and would basically disown him. So, Danny decided Wednesday that he wanted to wait a little longer. We told him to keep praying and relying on the Lord. Thursday, we went back over and he said that he had changed his mind. He told us that he was old enough to make his own decisions and that he wanted to still get baptized Saturday. Friday, we went over to teach the final lesson and guess who was visiting.....his brother. His brother listened to what we had to say and was very nice. It was extremely awkward though! His brother told us that it was hard for him to see his brother change from Baptist to Mormon. The member we brought with us had converted from the Baptist church and said some really great remarks to the brother. We could tell that Danny was very uncomfortable. At the end of the lesson, he said that he wanted to hold off on the baptism. Later that night, we called him to make sure that was what he wanted. He said that he wanted to hold off on his baptism until next week. So, hopefully this Saturday all goes well and he will be able to get baptized! Since Pembroke is so close, I may be able to get permission to come back and see his baptism!! Everything else though went pretty well this week!

This week, I found the November 2013 Conference Ensign in our apartment and have been reading it all week! Recently I read President Uchtdorf's talk entitled, "Come, Join with Us". This talk is really great and I highly recommend you all listen to it or read it this week!! Anyways, my favorite quote from the talk is "...first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ....Come, join with us. Come heed the call of the gentle Christ. Take up your cross and follow Him." I am so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I truly know that this is the church that our Heavenly Father wants all of His children to be a part of. I know that life gets hard and it can seem to be easy to doubt our faith, but don't do it! No matter where we are at in our lives, I know that the Savior will always welcome us in!

I love you all so much!! I am so grateful for everything you do for me! There really is no where else I would rather be right now than here on my mission. I love you and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 

Lumberton - February 13, 2017

Hello family and friends! I hope you have all had a really great week this week! My time here in Lumberton has gone by in the blink of an eye!! I can't believe that I have been here for 6 months!! Monday night, President James called to ask if I would be a Sister Training Leader in Pembroke. Pembroke is only like 20 miles to the west of Lumberton! I won't even be leaving Robeson county. I am really excited!!!! The people here in Robeson county are very prepared to hear the gospel!!

This week has been really good. It has also been an emotional roller coaster haha!! This week, Danny's brother told Danny that if he got baptized, he would take him off the family will and would basically disown him. So, Danny decided Wednesday that he wanted to wait a little longer. We told him to keep praying and relying on the Lord. Thursday, we went back over and he said that he had changed his mind. He told us that he was old enough to make his own decisions and that he wanted to still get baptized Saturday. Friday, we went over to teach the final lesson and guess who was visiting.....his brother. His brother listened to what we had to say and was very nice. It was extremely awkward though! His brother told us that it was hard for him to see his brother change from Baptist to Mormon. The member we brought with us had converted from the Baptist church and said some really great remarks to the brother. We could tell that Danny was very uncomfortable. At the end of the lesson, he said that he wanted to hold off on the baptism. Later that night, we called him to make sure that was what he wanted. He said that he wanted to hold off on his baptism until next week. So, hopefully this Saturday all goes well and he will be able to get baptized! Since Pembroke is so close, I may be able to get permission to come back and see his baptism!! Everything else though went pretty well this week!

This week, I found the November 2013 Conference Ensign in our apartment and have been reading it all week! Recently I read President Uchtdorf's talk entitled, "Come, Join with Us". This talk is really great and I highly recommend you all listen to it or read it this week!! Anyways, my favorite quote from the talk is "...first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ....Come, join with us. Come heed the call of the gentle Christ. Take up your cross and follow Him." I am so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I truly know that this is the church that our Heavenly Father wants all of His children to be a part of. I know that life gets hard and it can seem to be easy to doubt our faith, but don't do it! No matter where we are at in our lives, I know that the Savior will always welcome us in!

I love you all so much!! I am so grateful for everything you do for me! There really is no where else I would rather be right now than here on my mission. I love you and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 January 30, 2017 - Lumberton, North Carolina

Hello everyone!! Can you believe that it will be February this week?? Where is the time going??? This week has been really good!

This week, we had a world wide missionary broadcast and zone conference. The world wide broadcast was wonderful! The apostles and general authorities all discussed the importance of teaching towards conversion with our investigators. They also announced that our daily schedules were being changed and that we now only account for 4 key indicators. It was quite a big announcement! It's going to be interesting this week as we begin to live by a new schedule. Our investigators are doing well. Our investigator Danny is still lined up to be baptized next Saturday. He is still praying for confirmation on Joseph Smith and being baptized, but he really has loved what we have been teaching and what he learns at church. Tracy and Tony still have not come to church!! This week she ended up having to go to the hospital......Satan is really coming down on them! Haha!! Everyone else though is good. We are just trying to make a big focus on getting all of these wonderful people to come to sacrament meeting. Getting people to sacrament meeting has been the hardest thing for me to help people do on my mission. It all comes down to agency..........haha!

This week, the church put out a new mormon message. It's from Elder Holland's talk "Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet". The story that the message portrays is the story that I shared in my farewell talk of the two brothers that were scaling up a canyon wall and got to a point where only one of them could move on. I don't know if you remember that story, but if you don't go an read it, it's a good one. Anyways, I just love the principle that the story teaches us of the need for our Savior. My testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ has grown so much on my mission. I feel that I have become more converted to the Savior. I am grateful for all that Jesus Christ has done for us. Because of Him, we are able to repent and change! I know that Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father loves all of us so much. All they want more than anything is to have all of us return to live with them one day. So, have faith and grab onto our Savior's hands. He is reaching out for us and waiting for us to use the atonement, repent, and change.

I am truly grateful for this opportunity I have had to serve the Lord and be an instrument in His hands. Missionary work brings the greatest happiness into my life!! I love you and miss you all so much! I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

January 23, 2017 - Lumberton, North Carolina

Hey!! I hope everyone has had a really great week this week!! Things here in Lumberton are going really well...except the weather haha. At the beginning of last week the temperature here reached the 80's.........in January. This weather really is quite strange. It's probably also the reason behind this wonderful cold that I have received this week. Even though being sick has completely worn me out, we have still been able to do some really great work.

Our investigators are all doing really well. We are working with a couple named Tracy and Tony. They met with the Elders less than a year ago, but wanted to resume taking lessons after the Elders had left. Since we have been teaching them, they have begun to progress wonderfully!! They are all set to be baptized on March 4th. I can't wait for them! This week, Tracy came to a Relief Society activity with us and absolutely loved it!! She's really great. She keeps texting and calling us to check up on us. She even called this morning to see how my cough was doing....I love her!! Now, we just need to get them to church. Every week, they are so determined to come....and then something happens. This week, the power went out Saturday night and so their alarm clock got reset. Last week, they were all ready to go to church and went out to the car and their tire was flat.....the list goes on and on!! Haha Satan is working really hard on those two!! We also saw our investigator Katie who is my other favorite! She is the one from Minnesota who has been meeting with missionaries for over a year now. This month she has decided that by the end of the month she will make up her mind of what she wants to do.....get baptized or not. We just want her to be happy and know that whatever decision she comes to it will be what is best for her right now.

In Relief Society yesterday, our lesson was from Elder Juan A. Uceda's talk from General Conference called "The Lord Teaches Us to Pray". This talk is really wonderful and I suggest that all of you read it! This talk is just a great reminder of how important it is to pray to our Heavenly Father. On my mission, I have been trying harder to pray more and to always have a prayer in my heart. On the days that I remember to have a prayer in my heart, I feel that my day goes much better because I know I am more in tune with my Heavenly Father. When I am more in tune with Him, I am doing more of the things that He wants me to do rather than what I want to do.

I hope you all have a really great week!! I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Paynter

January 16, 2017 - Lumberton, North Carolina

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Hahah I hope everyone is enjoying the Monday holiday and has had a good week this last week. The work here in Lumberton is continuing to grow! This week we have found several new investigators as well as set new baptismal dates.

Last week, we had a wonderful Zone Training. The theme of our meeting and for our zone is "bring 'em home". All of the instruction we received was definitely things that I needed to hear. We talked about being consecrated and working to improve ourselves in the work. I was able to receive lots of inspiration and it gave me the motivation that I needed this week. We've really been working hard to get people to sacrament and it has been quite the struggle. Our investigator Danny did come to church again this week which was great!! Our investigators Tracy and Tony were supposed to be there...they even called us an hour before church...we are still trying to figure out what happened. Things are really great though!! I have felt that this week we have really made a difference in how people view our lessons with them. We have been setting really good expectations with the people we meet so that they understand that we mean business haha!

Every week, I learn lots of new things and this week, something that really stood out to me in my studies was remembering Jesus Christ always. In life, it is so easy to forget about Jesus Christ when we are busy with work and school and other things. Even on my mission, I sometimes forget to think about Jesus Christ in all that I do. This next week, I have made it a goal to remember Jesus Christ more. I know that as I work hard to remember Him in the things that I do, I will be able to feel the Spirit more and receive more guidance. The most important part to remembering Him Always is to go to church every Sunday and partake of the sacrament. Partaking of the sacrament every week is so very important, because each time we take the sacrament, we take a step closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. During the sacrament, we get to renew our covenants with Heavenly Father and commit to do better this week. On my mission, I have really learned how important it really is to take the sacrament every week. Coming closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ should be our number one goal in life. As we remember Jesus Christ always, it will be easier to make the right decisions in life and come closer to Him.

I love you all so much!! Thank you for everything and have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 January 9, 2017 - Lumberton, North Carolina

Happy Monday everyone!! I hope everyone is staying safe and warm in the weather! Well, I officially got to see snow in North Carolina!! Even though in Lumberton we only got a super small amount and it was more ice than snow, I was still quite excited! It's been over a year since I got to see and touch snow. I even made a cute little snow ball and threw it.......just because I could! Sunday church was cancelled through out our entire stake. It was cancelled as a precaution, but Sunday came around and the roads were cleared and the sun was in the sky. It was a really strange day to say the least haha.

This week has been really good!! We've really started off our third transfer together with a running head start!! We have been able to do quite a bit of tracting and have found several new investigators. We have also been able to set more baptismal dates!! I truly believe that as we continue to invite as many people as possible to baptism early and often, we will be able to find many wonderful people who are ready to be baptized! It's really amazing to watch the Lord bless us as we strive to find ways to be more obedient and lose ourselves in the work.

I've been thinking a lot about what I want to be able to accomplish in the last 6 months of my mission. I've really reflected on the last year and thought of goals that I want to be able to accomplish. I decided to set goals that would really push me and motivate me to really lose my self in this work. Although the goals I have set may seem like a really hard thing to accomplish, I know that Heavenly Father will bless me in my efforts to try even harder to succeed. I was reading Elder Cornish's talk from this past General Conference which talked about people who wonder if they are good enough to make it to the Celestial Kingdom. In his talk, he says, "Let me be direct and clear. The answers to the questions “Am I good enough?” and “Will I make it?” are “Yes! You are going to be good enough” and “Yes, you are going to make it as long as you keep repenting and do not rationalize or rebel.” The God of heaven is not a heartless referee looking for any excuse to throw us out of the game. He is our perfectly loving Father, who yearns more than anything else to have all of His children come back home and live with Him as families forever. He truly gave His Only Begotten Son that we might not perish but have everlasting life! Please believe, and please take hope and comfort from, this eternal truth. Our Heavenly Father intends for us to make it! That is His work and His glory." I truly believe that if we repent daily and strive to do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do, we can make it. Through God all things are possible!! No matter where we are in life, we can do hard things, but we really have to try!! Elder Cornish goes on to say, "I love the way President Gordon B. Hinckley used to teach this principle. I heard him say on several occasions, “Brothers and sisters, all the Lord expects of us is to try, but you have to really try!” “Really trying” means doing the best we can, recognizing where we need to improve, and then trying again. By repeatedly doing this, we come closer and closer to the Lord, we feel His Spirit more and more,4 and we receive more of His grace, or help." I hope that you will all try a little harder this week. Recognize where you are falling short and keep trying...over and over. I know that God loves us and that all He wants is for us to be happy!! And living the gospel is what makes us happy!

I love you all so much!! Thank you for all of your wonderful prayers and letters! I love hearing from everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful week!! Stay warm and safe!!

Love,

Sister Paynter

 

 

January 2, 2017 - Lumberton, North Carolina

Happy New Year family and friends!!! I can't believe it's 2017! Time just goes by so fast! I hope you all had a fun time ringing in the new year! This week has been really great! We found out transfer news on Saturday.........we will both be staying in Lumberton. It rarely happens that companionships stay together for 3 transfers so it was quite a shock to us!

This week, the work in Lumberton has really been moving forward. We found several new investigators and many of them have very solid potential!! A couple of them were former investigators that we just tracted into. On Sunday, one of those new investigators came to church!! His name is Danny. He used to take lessons from the Elders a year or two ago. He never made it to church because the Elders didn't ever arrange a ride for him. We were able to get someone to pick him up and he came!! He said that he really enjoyed it and that he plans on coming back! We set a baptismal date for February 11. It has really been amazing to see so many miracles take place here in Lumberton!!!

This week, I began to read The Book of Mormon again. The other day, I read about Lehi's Vision. It made me think back to an article from Elder Bednar that I read. In this article, he talks about the 4 different groups of people that are in Lehi's vision. The four groups of people are: those that did not even seek after the tree of life, those who pressed forward and commenced on the journey but did not use the iron rod, those who were clinging to the iron rod, and those who were continually holding fast to the iron rod. The first two groups of people never even made it to the tree of life. The last two groups made it to the tree, but one of those groups were ashamed and left the tree after eating the fruit. Only one of the groups stayed by the tree and that was those people who continually held fast to the iron rod. The story of Lehi's Vision teaches us that we need to be continually holding fast to the iron rod or in other words, we need to be consistently reading, studying, and searching the scriptures. The scriptures help us to know more of what our Heavenly Father would have us do. They help us to ultimately come closer to Him and returning to live with Him. As the new year begins, we should all make it a goal to do better at continually holding fast to the iron rod.

I love you all so much!! I am so grateful for everything you do for me! Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Paynter