Ko uara?

Mauri everyone! I can't believe that I've already been here for a week. The spirit is so strong here. We have 2 "investigators" right now. The first one is Biiri. After teaching him 3 times we found out that he is actually one of our teachers haha! His name is Brother Farley, and he plays attack for BYU lacrosse, so thats cool I guess. Thanks everyone for the emails. I love hearing how everyone is doing. No we did not get to hear the regional conference last sunday. But i heard it was good! We got to hear Chad Lewis speak to us. One of my favorite things he said was, I testify that Tom Brady threw true passes, it was pretty funny, he was the ambassador to China for the NFL and all he new in Chinese were missionary phrases. If anyone wants to send packages with snacks it would be greatly appreciated by district 14 D, if you need the address you can just ask my mom haha. I can now pray in Kiribati and I can almost share a scripture. So the language is coming little by little. So a couple nights ago we were playing two truths and a lie in our room. The craziest thing happened, we found out that Elder Perry has 4 nipples, like what in the world. We have a Tongan Elder in our district and he doesn't speak english very good, and he only really has 2 phrases that he says all the time, he says whaaat daaa heeck, and so stuupid. Haha its pretty funny so now all of the elders in our zone say it haha. Every couple nights all the elders in our zone get together and we sing nogu masu, its a Fijian song and its super cool, all i know about it is that it is something about our prayer. So something pretty cool happened the other day, we got to give a blessing to one of the sisters in my district. It was a super cool experience and from that I know that the power of the priesthood is real. I hope I've answered everyone's questions, if not then just try and email me and ill do my best to reply. On our Tuesday night devotional we had one of the seventy come and speak to us. His name was Elder Kearon. One thing that really stuck out to me is that he said to attack the day. Its our choice on if we have a good day or not. I challenge you guys to attack the day starting in the morning, I know that it has helped me in feeling the spirit every day.Oh another thing I placed my first book of mormon in my first lesson haha, we asked him to read the Book of Mormon but he said he didn't have one, so i gave it to him, it was pretty cool, and then after i was like, what do i do now? I don't have a Book of Mormon in Kiribati to study from anymore, but i got it back yesterday so its all good haha.

Love you guys,

Elder Maraki

Mauri!!! Ko ouara?

Hello every one! I've only had two full days at the MTC but they have been pretty good, I guess that is other then sleeping conditions... Its super hot when we go to bed but by the middle of the night it gets pretty cold. But I guess being tired all the time isn't the worst that could happen to me. The language sounds crazy and I can only say a few simple phrases, but we are learning how to pray in Kiribati. Mauri means hello, and Ko ouara me how are you doing. I have two companions which can be kind of hard sometimes because  we have to have all three people decide what to do, but thats not to bad since we are all pretty easy going. My companions are Elder Roberts who is our district leader, and Elder Breckenridge who is the senior companion, so I guess I got left out on being leadership haha, but thats ok because I'll be the senior companion in two weeks. My district is super cool, There are 10 of us 7 Elders and 3 Sisters. One of the sisters is from Sandy UT, one is from Australia but is Tongan, and the other one is from  Samoa. The elders are also pretty cool, Elder Butcher is from provo, and Elder Parry is from Northern California, We have a Tongan Elder and a Samoan Elder, but I don't know how to spell their names. Elder Breckenridge is from Missouri, and Elder Roberts is from Gilbert Arizona. I have seen so many of my friends here, It seems like I see Elder Evaga like all over the place, but I've also seen Elder Tippetts, Elder Denboer, Elder Swapp, Elder Farrer, and probably a few more but i can't really remember all their names right now haha. It is so cool being here and being able to feel the spirit so often. I love talking to the Samoan Elder who is in my room and he speaks really good english because he went to a mormon high school. I am so excited to learn this language, It's not like in school having to sit through a boring class but I actually learn, and I'm excited to learn. Some of the lectures that we have had that are all The People and My Purpose are pretty boring haha, but there are still good things that I have learned at all of them. I'm super excited to serve, and I hope you guys remember to read your scriptures and pray every day. 

Read D&C 88:84 but it might be 84:88 I don't have my scriptures with me so maybe try both haha.

Love,

Elder Maraki (Payne)

Reporting to the Provo MTC

Before we got home, we received this picture from a neighbor and this email from Elder Payne!

September 6, 2017

I just got here, we put my stuff in my room and of course I got shafted and I have to use the top bunk... oh well haha, then we went to the class and the teacher didn't say anything in english and I had no idea what he was saying, then he took me to this computer and said to write you guys and now i start classes. I love you guys. Remember to always read your scriptures and say your prayers.

Love,

Elder Payne

Farewell

Endowed

Timpanogos Temple. Wonderful to have family there with us.

Pre-Mission Pictures

The MTC in Provo was expanded and we were able to visit before Brock became Elder Payne. I called it "mission prep", along with watching 'Moana' and 'The Other Side of Heaven'.