Trabajo duro!

Como están?

This week we had a meeting at President Calderwood's home. He is finishing up his time here, so he wanted to do something special to end on a good note. It was just our zone, which is the smallest zone in the mission. Bermuda is in my zone so you can see the islanders being Skyped in. It's also pretty easy to tell who is from Hawaii here!

On Saturday we took the trip into Manhattan to go to the temple! Sadly Hector couldn't come because he had an emergency with his taxi company. He'll go next time though. Manhattan was really cool. The metro was nuts! There are so many people. We talked to a group of people on the train that was headed into Manhattan to go shopping for the day. Every one of them was from a different Spanish speaking country. The diversity here is like nowhere else on the planet. It's great!

Yesterday we had a Memorial Day party! It was super awesome! We played games and ate lots of super good food. John Garcia, one of our investigators, came to hang out for awhile. He loved it! He talked about how he wasn't going to come, then he decided he didn't want to disappoint us so he made the decision to come drop by. We introduced him to lots of people there, and he had a blast! I could see a huge difference in him when he left. Looks like HellzBouncer isn't as tough as he looks!

Well there are two weeks left of this transfer! We're hoping for amazing things to be happening soon. Riverhead is doing great! We are working hard and are starting to see lots of changes in the branch of the church here out on the end of Long Island.

Okidokie! Have a good week!

Ry

Paz a tu alma!

Hello everyone!

This week has been really nice! The weather is hot and ridiculously humid. Right now here in riverhead humidity is sitting at around 85%.

Perfect weather for wearing pants, a button up shirt, and a tie!

This week Purcell and I went on exchanges. He's an awesome English speaking guy from Utah. He goes home in four weeks. Pretty crazy how fast things go. When I came out here he was only 3/4 of the way done with his mission. Time flies! I hit my five month mark yesterday!

I'm having lots of fun out here. Going into the fourth week of the transfer, things are kind of slow, but we work really hard and find lots of people to teach. Our recent convert Hector is going to the temple on Saturday! We will get to go with him, so I will finally get to head over into Manhattan for a day. I will definitely send pictures of that.

These pictures are in Southold NY out here on Long Island. That's elder Purcell and I standing in front of Connecticut.

Alright! More news next week about our trip into Manhattan.

Later!

Meghan and me! She is wearing my name tag. She has an older sister. Haha she wouldn't leave me alone until I gave her the sunglasses and my tag

QUE LO QUE!

Hello people!

This week was pretty sweet! We saw some really great success in our district out here on Long Island. We found a guy that had talked to the missionaries a really long time ago in the city and I guess he just kinda got lost when he moved. We found him and taught him later in the same day. He is really excited for his kids to hear about what we teach so that's really cool.

We also looked up a very old previous and he's ready to be baptized.

Him and his 'wife' are gonna get married soon and then they're ready!

They are from Guatemala and they both speak great English, which is very unusual. We teach them in Spanish though, because it's way more fun.

I went on exchanges with Elder Trujillo this week! It was super fun.

He's columbian, and he's kinda crazy. We taught a guy that is ex Italian mafia and has never served time. Hasn't been caught yet basically. He was a high up in the NYC Italian mafia until he was about thirty or so, and then he was blind. Just like that. Lost 100% of his eyesight. Talk about being struck down!

We also taught a guy who is a Free mason and an odd fellow. He was.....odd. Odd indeed. He retired when he was 27 years old. He is extremely wealthy.

Pictures!

We found huge Jarritos!

Elder Trujillo and I knocked this door for about ten minutes. While we called them on their phone. Yes they were there. We went back about an hour later and they let us in. Pretty funny people.

Rollin' full swag! Possibly one of the best things I've ever tasted. Inca Kola!

Cheeee pono and Pics!

Hey all!

Happy Star Wars day!

This week has been interesting.

Yesterday we taught a gentleman named John Garcia. Nice guy! He believes that Jesus is an alien sent by higher beings to teach humans basic principles and to make us believe in deity. A little strange.

The next time we go over he's going to show us his UFO pictures as well as Bigfoot pictures.... Oh. Did I mention he was a professional bouncer back in the day in Manhattan. He's about 6'4" and weighs a good 290 pounds. Also has a tattoo that reads 'HELZBOUNCER' on his forearm. Over all a nice guy though! He's either 5% crazy and 95% sane, or he's 100% crazy. We're not quite sure yet!

We played soccer again this week! It was super awesome. We had a bunch of Chapines there and some Dominicans. I love the Dominicans! They're legit! I used some Dominica dichos on them and they thought that was the coolest thing ever!

We have some new missionaries in our district. We have a Hawaiian and a sister missionary from Paraguay. They are awesome. Sister Jahnel doesn't speak English very well, but she's super awesome. She spent the last few transfers in Jamaica, which is where I really really want to go. It's the craziest part of NYC, the most dangerous too from what I've heard. Maybe next transfer!

Okidokie!

Have a good week!

Elder Payne

Fun with a sleeping missionary and a leaf blower! All we do here in NYC is party!

 That's elder Purcell in both of those. And elder law is playing sleeping beauty.

Compilation for April 27, 2015

[Mom note: Elder Payne wasn't able to write much this week -- perhaps the fact that he spent his p-day time trying to get his ATM card working so he could buy a few groceries. All part of the fun! Here are few things he did say to us...]

Yeah! I'm staying in Riverhead with elder Cottle. *sighhh oh well!

I'll keep working hard!

Haha I have so many tips for Jeff for his mission. He's gonna have a much easier time than me hahaha

Got an email from Kelli Jenkins today. That was cool.

The mission is great. I'm having a blast. Time is flying! Fourteen transfers left to go! I come home December sixth 2016 by the way. A little soon to make plans, but, oh well!

Love you!

Hey y'all!

Hey everyone! 

Great week in Riverhead. Today starts the last week of the transfer. I also had my four month mark this last Friday! Crazy to think I've already been out that long. 1/6th of the way. Definitely makes me want to push harder and work harder. Next Monday I will officially be done training. I will be very very glad to be done with that. I will also find out if I'm leaving Riverhead yet. That's pretty exciting! Elder Purcell, an English speaking missionary here has been telling me some crazy stories about Jamaica Queens. Sounds like the place for me! Definitely one of the more dangerous places here, but it's probably still okay (you're welcome mom). I'm super excited to see more of the city. Just the parts I have seen are crazy. Just a tiny bit different than good ol Boise Idaho. 

This week has been a little disappointing because we got dropped by about five super promising investigators. I guess that's how it goes sometimes! Soccer this week was also kind of a flop. We invited around twenty or so people and one person showed. We played hard none the less! Fútbol is something that I'm getting better at slowly, but I'm enjoying it a lot! 

I. Love. Spanish. Because I'm in the states I didn't really think I would get to learn it as well as other people. Wrong! I think that here in NYC I have an advantage over most missionaries! Por ejemplo: so far today I have talked to four Guatemalans, a Columbian and a Dominican in target! Yesterday I talked to some Hondurans, Ecuadorians, el Salvadorians, a Mexican family, and some Colombians. I get to hear every Spanish dialect there is! And yes they're all very different. I love learning new words and new better ways to say things. In the mtc you learn a lot of Spanish that helps you teach the lessons, but actually talking to people is completely different. I love it! It's great! The best thing ever is when we knock on a door and someone says, "no hablamos ingles." We say, "ah si esta bien por que hablamos español!" 

What's the news with Star Wars seven? I heard there was a new trailer for it. I hope it's good! If the movie ends up being bad, I'm gonna have to have a word with J.J. Abrams. Messing up Star Wars is like insulting a close family member (yes we're all looking at you Jar-Jar). 

Fameeleee!

Hey mom!

I got the package you sent! I love the licorice of course and the peeps with frosting were definitely tasty. And probably healthy too!

I have a favor to ask! Kandice Nielson sent me a friend request on Facebook, which means that she either can now use Facebook in Peru, or she's home. We're on a Facebook reset right now and so I can't actually add her back right now, but could you send her a Facebook message and see how it's going and give her my email? Thanks!

Also, is that card good to use today? I wanna get Jeff something for his birthday! I would use some of my food money because I have a ton left over because I'm vey frugal, but we're not allowed to do that...

So anyways, let me know on that.

I don't have any pictures of soccer from Saturday because all 20 people we invited didn't show.... But we're going to the air force base with a para rescue guy! (Those are the guys that help extract SEALs in hot combat) His name is Joe Piccoli (very Italian) and he is awesome! I'll have lots of good pictures from that, although not from the camera because I don't have a way to get them off as of yet. Okay talk to you more later!

Love,

Dolor