March 30, 2015 Almost Easter in Zumpango

Hola
Go Kentucky, I guess, haha, Ill keep your knees in my prayers;) The
little girl in the fotos is named Valerie and she is the daughter of
our convert, Dolores. They are all super cool, and the kids say that
they want to be missionaries when they are older!! woohoo! We will be
able to watch Conference in the stake center, but i might have a few
struggles trying to find it in English, haha, This Easter weekend
should be great, I hear that here in mexico they do like a reenactment
of the crucifixion of Jesus, so that seems pretty fun (and a little
bit of apostasy haha) The people are so religious and coocoo here!! 
My comp is leaving to his house tomorrow and we have a lot of stuff to do before he leaves;) Ill talk to you more next week!!Thanks for always supporting me and loving me!! I love you tons Dad!!
Stay strong in the faith, this church really is true!!
Love you!!
Jordo

March 23, 2015, Zumpango Rocks

Hola Amigo!!

How have you been?

We survived winter time and now we have pouring rain!! woohoo! We are all good, My companion is awesome just a little stressed because he finishes his misision in a week!! We have 6 missionaries in our ward, My comp and I and 2 sister companionships. Its pretty great!!

I´m glad everything is alright with your work, I hope that things will keep getting better. Sounds like the paper route is all taken care of right now, if only Kyle would pick up the slack and start driving, haha just kidding! I´ve been trying to take more pictures, but its hard because I dont want to have my camera get robbed... haha, but I´ll try to start taking some more, I´ve only got one this week!!! Don´t miss me too much for march madness, we´ve still got one more to go, haha!! Thank you so much for all you support Dad!! I love you tons and wish you the best of luck in everything!! (work, disneyworld... etc.)

Te Amo mucho!!

Elder Paynter

p.s. another pic of my bff

 

 

Hola ¿cómo has estado?

I really do love serving!! I wouldn´t want to be anywhere else for the next 100 years (because I never want to come back) I really think that serving a mission is for everyone, and really for (girls) it's only 18 months and the time flies by faster than you can think, Education can wait, but I´m absolutely sure that there are people in all parts of the world being prepared to hear what we have to say, It´s an opportunity that we cannot give up!! Plus, being a missionary is super chito (mexican slang for cool) 

I honestly don´t know what I can tell you... were here in Zumpango, its super fun, but we haven't been having super success, and have been having a few struggles, because I think my companion is thinking too much about going home, but all that we need to do is "Work, Work, Work" -Ezra Taft Benson ;)

Good Week:)

Right now we have a goal in the mission to read 11 pages of the Book of Mormon every day, so my personal studies have been a little bit full of Book of Mormon reading. Btw- I´m reading it in Spanish, so it takes a little bit of time to read the 11 pages:) but I´m pretty happy because I can practically understand all of it!! I´m surprised because I have learned a lot from reading!!

5 months.... I almost cried..... I´ve been away for 5 months!! I really never ever want to come home, I´m sorry, but its the truth... I honestly don´t want to waste a single minute here!! We are working on the Lord´s time! To think that 5 months have gone by this quick is insane! It makes me sick, "I don´t ever want to leave this town." 

But it's been great!!

Yes, I am wearing my retainer (when the water in our house is working!!)

Elder Paynter

p.s. Foto: It wasn't our baptism, but the baptism of the Hna´s (hermanas)!!

p.s. the water goes out every day from 6 at night until 7 in the morning....

March 16, 2015, Bend It Like Beckham

Pretty fun week!!  We had a lot of rain and its been a lot colder!! p.s. we play soccer Every day!! not just on pdays, I´m gonna come back like David Beckham!! Handsome, good at soccer and Brittain... or maybe just good at soccer!! And the spanish has gotten a little bit easier, but I can´t take the credit!!

 The ward is huge!! we have like 700 members, but only a little less than 200 attend church:) the boundaries are huge and everyone has money and transport problems... My comp is great!! struggling alitttle bit, with the whole end ofhismission and everything, but heis awesome!! p.s. the space bar doesnt work very well and I´m just gonna leave that sentance like that for proof:)

Good luck with your tooth, "I want to be a Dentist." (with a lisp of course) ... that was for my Dad, a little random but i hope you both get a good laugh out of it!!

I´ll talk to you asap (1 week)!!

Love you tons!!

ElderPaynter

March 9, 2015 Tora Cubana Sandwich

Hola Amigo!!

How did Meghan like her email in spanish? I´m good, and surviving!! Right now nobody is on my weekly email list, I´ve gotten a little bit lazy, haha and I havent taken very many pics either, haha!! The weather is great here, its been pretty sunny, but on saturday it started to rain super hard, we were leaving with the sister missionaries from the house of the ward mission leader, when it started to rain, and a member saved us with his taxi, we squished all six soaking wet missionaries into one taxi, I had to continually wipe the windshield from the inside with a rag, because we were all breathing super heavy haha!! pretty cool experience!! Ya i had to buy a new bike and now i lock it up everywhere we go!! we've started playing soccer at 6 in the morning everyday so Ive been staying healthy!! We've been playing with our convert, Dolores, an investigator, Lucelya, and their kids! And Dolores is super cool!! my companion sent the friend request from her phone, and don't worry I´ll return with two bags!! She´s more interested in Elder Gomez, and dreams about marrying him, 'lol jk. haha, its all good!! here in mexico those girls are called Piñas or pineapples, i don't know why,haha! Thank you so much for all that you do Dad!! I love you tons!!hope you have a super duper week!!

Love you

Jordo

p.s. the fotos are of the Torta Cubana, its a giant sandwich with everykind of food on it, and the others are of me in our house and Valerie, the daughter of Dolores;)

March 2, 2015 Elder Mora and Stolen Bike

Ok, I apologize in advance, pretty boring letter this week, I don't have any time this week.... and I'll just break the bad news right now... My bike got stolen and I have to pay for the new one... ugh... Ill spare you the details... again i am sorry...  Today Me and Elder Mora went to Pachuca to take his English test. He will be finishing his mission this cycle. He is from Colombia and was born in Brazil, he is super great, but I miss Elder Gomez like crazy, I heard that he got sent to work with one of the  missionaries in the mission, so i will keep him in my prayers;) Michael is home that is crazy!! 2 years is too fast, I have already been gone for 4 months... CRAZY!! I don't have much time like always but I love you so much and am so sorry for the bad news.... love you!! You are amazing I hope you will forgive me before my two years are up:)

Elder Paynter

I just wrote Meghan a letter in Spanish. I hope she is able to find a way to understand it haha!! triste mujer, jaja! Me and my companion have been getting along pretty well, the only problem that we have had so far is that he talks a ton!! He has like 1000 stories from his mission and from home haha!! The only reason that it is a problem is because we are in lessons for too much time and we miss our next appointments!! haha, its all good though:) He knows English pretty well, he studied a little bit before the mission and has learned quite a bit in the mission, He is a little bit more relaxed than Elder Gomez, but its alright, Elder Gomez is a super hard worker, and I know he taught me well!! My bike got stolen because i left it outside without the lock while we were writing the other week, and I don't really want to talk about it anymore.... I would like to say that our investigators are progressing, but they aren't attending church, so... 

I´m glad that you are all doing great!! It's a pleasure to hear from you all every week!! It's crazy how much time flies on the mission, I can't believe that Lindsey is coming back already!! Insane!! and now Avery is going to leave, super crazy!!! I´m rolling in on the 5 month mark I DON'T EVER WANT TO LEAVE!!!! haha, Our convert, Dolores has been helping us out a lot with the missionary work!! Her dream is to be a missionary!! but she is  29 yrs old and has 3 kids so she can't... but she is always more than willing to go out and teach lessons with us!! It's super cool!! I love you and miss you so much, and hope you aren't mad if I say that I never want to come back home.... lol cálmate es un chiste:) un poco de español para ti :) te quiero y te amo mucho!!

Elder Paynter

p.s i bought a new camera and its super cool

February 23, 2015 Transfers...Adios Elder "Papa" Gomez

Weekly Update:) Tomorrow we have Cambios(transfers) and well, Elder Gomez is leaving me... I am feeling a little sad having to say goodbye to one of my greatest friends:( It`s all right though, one of the sisters in the ward told us that the reason that we have cambios is because there are other families being prepared for us in other places, so I know that Elder Gomez will be just fine. We had some pretty great times and
experiences together! I`m so glad I got to serve with him!! I don`t think I will ever forget my Papà! We were able to have our baptism this Saturday! It was such a reaffirmation of mine and Elder Gomez`s testimonies!! Our investigator, Dolores, has changed so much since the first time we met her and we have been able to see the power of the Lord's work through her!! I thank the Lord every hour of the day for this opportunity that I have to serve!! I don`t think I will ever be able to thank him enough!! I`ve been so blessed!! i say this a lot,
but I dont think there is anywhere that I would rather be!! To be able to see this kind of change in peoples lives is a blessing that only can be seen through sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our brothers and sisters!! I am so grateful and love my Heavenly Father more that anything!! I Love Zumpango, Mexico and I love Serving the Lord!!! woo hoo
Con Amor,
Elder Paynter

February 16, 2015 Baptism

Weekly Rundown
We had a pretty great week this week! This week we are preparing for another baptism!! The investigator that we are going to baptize is great!! she attended sacrament meeting the week after we met her!! and
she has been attending ever since then! I can tell that she was prepared to meet us before we met her!! Her progression has been excellent! I can`t wait for this Saturday!! One week until I finish my
first 12 weeks here!! I`m super excited and nervous!! The time has flown by quicker than I could have imagined!!! At times i wish that it would slow down a little bit!! I read the talk Missionary Work and The
Atonement by Jeffrey R Holland this week and I was pretty amazed by what I learned!! As missionaries we have the responsibility of bringing others to come unto Christ by inviting them to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, which includes Repentance. At times when we teach Lesson 3 we kind of skim over the repentance part, we need to remember that repentance is a requisite for Baptism. In the talk Elder Holland talks about how missionaries are to teach the Atonement to others through the Book of Mormon. Its a responsibility as well as missionaries to declare repentance to others, just like Alma, Amulek, Lehi, Mormon, Moroni, Nephi and many other prophets. I have been trying really hard lately to try and share the words of the prophets
from the Book of Mormon in our lessons. I have seen that as others read the Book of Mormon their testimonies are strengthen and the come closer and closer to Christ, and the same I have seen in my own life.
The Book of Mormon is the word of God and we can come closer to God by reading this book than by any other book!! (just like it says in the Introduction!) I love this work and I am so grateful that I am here in
Zumpango doing His work!! 

February 9, 2015 Tecamac Zone Conference

February 2, 2015 Sister Egbert

Monday in Zumpango as I was doing house checks I had 40 extra minutes and so we stopped to see the local shopping while I had two "body guards" to direct and protect me. I think 40 minutes in any "Tiangui" (Huge neighborhood garage sale) gave me my fix for the rest of the mission. It's almost like a dollar store on steroids- in addition to produce, tacos, meat (with lots of flies), clothes..actually anything you might need! 

So fun to spend some time with Elder Gomez and Elder Paynter... a less active sister who we met there gave us a free Popsicle- how kind. -Sister Egbert