This is the end...or is it??

8/15/15

Well this week has been fantastic yet again. I want to thank all of you guys for your love and support during this last transfer and all of your prayers over these past two years! I don’t know what I would have done without them.

Well this week has been super strange. I bore my testimony in my last District meeting... It still hasn’t hit me yet that I am going home in a few days...I guess when I finally get off the airplane and see you guys I will finally understand that everything has ended.  Sorry if I look a little shell shocked when I get home....culture shock!! :P 

But most of all what I wanted to do in this last email is try to express some of the things that have happened here on the mission. From the first experience of hearing that I wouldn’t be going to CTM in Brazil but going instead to the Provo MTC to the elation of receiving the call that I would be able to go to Brazil but would pass through Provo, I can see the hand of God more clearly in my life. I can see now how much I needed that one week to prepare, to see Madison for the last time, and then head off to start my adventure in another part of the same world. I can see much more clearly now how God plays a super important part of our lives on a daily basis. The other day we were conversing with a child and her mother about prayer. We asked the girl (She is about 14) if she believes that God answers her prayers. She said “No.” She said that she hadn’t ever received an answer to a prayer. It was difficult to try to explain to her and to make sure that she understood but in the end the most powerful thing that we did was we said...” I know that God answers prayers because he has answered mine.” I have come to realize Heavenly Father is ever present and ever willing to help us. 

What I have learned here in these 2 wonderful, hard, and extremely happy two years I would never exchange nor trade. I have learned so much and yet I realize how much I have yet to come to know\remember. This is why this is not really the end, but the beginning. My time here on the mission has just been the training for real life or as Jeffrey R. Holland said that the mission is just the MTC for Life. Now I look forward with the firm hope and faith that I will be able to be better; a better son, a better brother, a better servant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I know that this church is true. I know it with all my heart. I know it not because I have been teaching it for two years, (that has given me some great insights but it is not the center of the matter) I know it because like Alma I have received a testimony given by a member of the Godhead. I love these two verses and often used them to help our investigators: Alma 5: 45-46

And this is not all, Do ye not suppose that I know these things of myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I  do know that the things whereof I have spoke are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

Behold I say unto you that they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his holy spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he restored Christ´s church here on the earth. I know that the priesthood was restored and with that we were sealed in a temple of God to be a family for all eternity. There is nothing more precious in the world to me than you guys. I love you with all my heart and I am so eternally grateful that Heavenly Father allowed me to have a family like you guys. I cannot wait to see you guys in the airport at 11h40!!

I know that OUR Savoir lives! I have started to learn about him here on the mission and I hope to one day I will be able to behold his presence side by side with each and every one of you and say that We have done the best we knew how and he will just smile and give us a hug and welcome us home! I pray for that! I know that one day it can happen but it will all depend on us! I love you guys so much!! 

Love, Elder Pachner II

The miracles continue!!!!

 8/08/15

You guys must really be praying a bunch for us because we are being very blessed here!! This week has been an amazing week :) Honestly I am very glad that my last weeks on the mission could be ended like this :) I am very grateful for all of you who are praying for our success because it is truly being seen in our daily lives here. Where about 3 months before we had about no investigators we have now improved drastically. 

This week one of the coolest things happened on Thursday. We hunting down the less actives on the ward list in some of the humbler neighborhoods (and by humble I mean ghetto). Some of those places where I just look at my companions and we say to each other....if my mom could see me now....I think she would die ;P hahahahaha (just kidding mom it wasn’t that bad! the worst thing was that they hadn’t cut their grass in a long time ;) ) well we were walking and we found the number where the family should have lived but then a little girl came out of the house and told us that the family actually lived in the side alley.  Then she pointed to this guy talking on the phone walking up the alley and said that he was one of the people that we were trying to find.  We started to follow him but we didn’t want to seem creepy our anything...so finally he looked back at us and asked us who we were and what we wanted. We told him that we were missionaries and that we were searching for a couple people and actually the people that we were searching for turned out to be his parents! He said he had been baptized in the church about 15 years ago. So we went to his house and talked to him and his family. They were pretty nice and then Elder Betts asked if there was anyone that they knew who was looking for the gospel and they indicated their neighbors who lived two doors down. They were like; “there is no door to the corridor that leads to their house so just walk in and then call them”. So that is what we did. We walked up and just walked right in and I clapped...and there were these two dogs that started barking a lot and I just kept waiting and then this guy walked out of the house. He yelled at the dogs!  Then he looked at us and asked us what we wanted....by this point I was a little startled so I was like...we are the missionaries and your friend said you could use a visit our something like that and we just were passing by....and then he was like ummm OK you can come in if you want and so we went in and we went into the main room but the light was burned out so we three sat down on the couch in the dark and the guy said “so I am going to go call the whole family just wait here”....and so we waited and waited for like 4 min and then I looked over at the others and I did my best to break the tension and said "It’s a trap!! Like Starwars when they come out of warp speed “;P kkkkk but then everyone came and it turns out that there were 15 people living in that house!!! We are now teaching two different families in that house! They were extremely interested in the Book of Mormon and told us that it would change their lives to know if the church of God was here on the earth! We are going to visit them again on Monday!!!! Super excited :) so in the end everything turned out okay :)

This week has been awesome! We have a man who is preparing to be baptized and he is coming to the party the ward is having tonight! :) Festa!!! It should be really fun!!!!!

I will tell you all about the rest of my week when I get there in 10 days :P

I know that the church is true! I feel the spirit testify to my soul as we teach about it and as I do my best to live it. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of God, call to lead the only living and true church on the face of the earth. 

Love, Elder Pachner II

Modern Prophets

8/1/15

 Well this week has truly been blessed :) I am really feeling all the prayers that you guys are saying in my behalf and in behalf of all those who are in the office. We have had an amazing week this week :) This past Sunday we said goodbye to one of our investigators because she was moving back to Ecuador. She actually asked to be baptized the Saturday before she went but because of the complications with sending the papers in between countries President decided that it would be better to wait until she got to Ecuador. She is such an amazing person and she really showed me how to be strong in face of really difficult situations.

This week we have been blessed to find 5 new investigators!! That is how we are seeing your prayers bless the office! We are working really hard to prepare these new people to be baptized soon :) President gave us a new tactic, he told us that we needed to keep our lessons to like 20 min and then leave so that we could come back to visit the people in two days and they wouldn’t think it was too time consuming. It was actually a really inspired counsel because it is working :) We are teaching a man who is literally someone who is searching for the truth but didn’t know where to find it. He was talking to us about how he was going to a bunch of different churches to find the truth and one day he found the missionaries in Itajaí.  Then he moved and came to our ward. We started teaching him and he is already reading the Book of Mormon. He makes very intelligent questions which is great!  “How can I know if someone is a prophet or not?  Is a pastor in this church an apostle or just an inspired man?” GOLD for the missionaries :) :)   Seriously!   I love teaching people like that with all those questions!! He is super cool and he has accepted the invite to be baptized!!! He has already been to church once and we are going to pass by his house this Sunday to walk with him to church! 

The other people we are working with are equally awesome! They are truly a blessing directly linked to all your prayers for us.

This week I felt the spirit as I studied! I read my new favorite talk by Elder Eyring called Going Home....and no it isn’t about trunkiness :P It is about finding our way home to Heavenly Father. It was amazing. I felt the spirit so strongly as I read it.  Then I got to read a talk by President Ezra Taft Benson about President Kimball’s vision of missionary work! It just all clicked when I read that talk! I realized what I had to do, how I could become a better missionary even in this last month that I have here! I know that this church is true! I know that the spirit speaks with us and helps us to know the truth of all things!

Love Elder Pachner II

The sisters bought us wigs!!!

Elder Faithful!‏

7-25-15

Well this week was special! We had a visit from a 70. Elder Leal (faithful in English). It was a super cool experience! We talked a lot about pondering the scriptures and about the spirit. We talked about how we are the tools that the spirit uses to help the other people that God wants for them. It was super cool because Elder Leal asked us to do some practices and then he would do the practice with Pres. Ramilfo as his companion! It was super cool just to see how the spirit worked so well with him. It was interesting to see how comfortable he was speaking with the spirit and how natural it seemed. He always spoke so lovingly to the people in the practices! 

     Then we had a special meeting with him afterwards as the staff. He started off asking each of us what our functions were in the staff and when it was my turn I talked and said that I was training Elder Betts to take my place in the office.  The president’s wife was like “yeah cause he is going home now!!” :P Elder Leal just laughed and then we got down to business. He started to talk to us and it seemed as though that loving manner disappeared!!!! He was like I am going to be tough with you guys because you are the people that president trusts the most or else you wouldn’t be here. You guys need to be the example. You guys are the ones that will take away all the excuses from the other missionaries. Your president has given you guys a goal to baptize one person per month per missionary. You must do that. You are capable. If you aren’t on the road to that now Pray for the spirit to give you inspiration to be able to accomplish it. God hath given no commandment unto the children of men without before preparing a way by which they might accomplish the thing he asked them to do. He said that we are the tone setters, if we can do it everyone else will be able to do it as well. It was a lot of responsibility and is going to require a lot of SPRINTING ;p but I am going to do my very best and a little bit more :) Please pray for us!(Elder Sánez, Elder Sierras, Elder Fernandez, Elder Collett, Elder Betts, Elder Jopia, and I) (that is the whole staff) that we may be able to have the spirit with us and that we can recognize the people who are ready to come unto Christ.

Thank you for all the prayers that you are already giving for us! They really do strengthen and help us to continue in this important work :)

Other things that happened this week, we were teaching a less active family about the Holy Ghost and there was an impression that came to my mind. I felt that I should teach a little about how the Holy Ghost prepares us for the second coming. I felt the spirit really strong as We talked about how if we follow the spirit we will be prepared and sanctified spiritually so that one day we will be able to see our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

We had another good experience with an investigator! She was just saying thank you for all the help that we have given her. It was a really good feeling to just feel that appreciation :) It was a very cool moment because it is kind of hard for me to communicate to her because she speaks Spanish and so sometimes I don’t understand everything that she says but it was just a cool experience :)  Remind me about it when I get home and I will tell you guys the full story :)

I love you guys and I know that Jesus Christ Lives and the he loves each and every one of us. I know that he qualifies us, through his atonement and that is what should comfort us on our lowest days. We will never be alone.

Love, Elder Pachner II

Extremely Blessed

Extremely Blessed

 7/18/15

 This week I feel blessed. Blessed to be on a mission! Blessed to have you all as a family. Blessed to feel my Savior’s love, blessed to be his son. This week I have learned a little bit about how blessed we have been to be born in this last dispensation where there are more temples, missionaries, members, and blessings than any of the other dispensations. I read a couple talks about the times we live in and their great blessings and I realize that truly Heavenly Father trusts in us a lot to put us in this last dispensation where everything is so much harder, and at the same time so great. 

This week we talked a little with a couple less actives about the importance of reading the scriptures and how it blesses our lives. We read a talk called The power of the Word by Presidente Ezra Taft Benson. It talks about diving into the scriptures, (actually in Portuguese it uses the word mergulhar which means to submerge or like scuba dive in the scriptures ;P) it just showed me that it was never about quantity but about quality! What we get from the scriptures and how we apply it to our lives in much more important that if we read a whole chapter or not :P I honestly have never finished the Book of Mormon in Portuguese (I’m in Alma) but I feel as though I am understanding a whole lot more than I would have got if I just read it fast. I love the scriptures and I love the feeling of excitement as I learn something new and just want to share it with my companions :) The spirit of god is real and it truly with teach us everything through study and through faith.

I have a new comp! His name is Elder Betts! He is from Grand Rapids Michigan. We welcomed him to the staff by having an epic water gun battle in the house....we cleaned really well today ;P It was fun and it helped everyone relax after the audit! Everything went fine with the audit! :)

I know that this church is true and I know that God loves you and I know that He loves me. I know that God reveals his truth to us today through scripture study,  modern day prophets and personal revelation! I love you all so much!! Can’t wait to see you! :)

Love,

Elder Pachner II

What’s UP?!?!?!?!

My week this week has been a really good week :P hahahaha I proctored the English test this week and I realized that maybe I am going to need to take the English test before I go home :P

This week sounds like it was the week of prayer at our house and so I wanted share an experience that I had as well. We have been preparing to teach some of the recent converts about the importance of the family. I was studying the Liahona from this past conference...you know they talked a lot about the family!!!  We used the Proclamation to the World! It was a really good study and as I was praying in the end I just thanked Heavenly Father for the privilege that I have to be sealed to you guys. You are so very special to me and I am so thank full that you guys are my family forever! I think it was the first time I have shed some tears in a long time but it was the good type :) I am just grateful for the temples and the power of the priesthood.

This week was a little crazy!!! I had to buy more that 90 bus tickets for the transfer!!  We have been preparing for the audit and I am just kind of anxious to get my new computer!!!! 

As to the work in the field, all is going well :) We are working with more less actives here. We have been working with this one family for awhile and last week the mother came again to the church! That means out of 3 weeks she has been 2!! It is all going good :) It is like a whole extended family that we are trying to get them to come back and everyone promised to com this week so we will see how it goes tomorrow :)

This week we had a really cool experience. We were able to give a blessing to a cousin of one of the people we are teaching. She is pregnant and had a stroke.  She asked us to go to the hospital and give her a blessing. We got there after visiting hours by like 4 min but they still let us in. She was still in the ICU but we were able to shut the curtains around her bed and give her a blessing. I was thinking in my head....this is really super important....I have never given anyone a blessing in this type of situation and I started to pray in my head that we would be able to be inspired and give her the blessing that she would need. It was a very sweet experience and the blessing was one full of spirit and hope. I know that the priesthood is real and that it is the way that God blesses all of his children. I know that prayer is real and like you guys I know that God cares about even the seemingly inconsequential things in our lives! I love you all and am so glad that you guys are part of my life and that God allowed me to be born into our family!

Love, Elder Pachner II

D&C 29:34-35

7/4/15

This is a scripture that my companion showed to me during the district meeting this week! It made me feel a lot better about everything that we do here in the office. The other day we were studying about what it means to be a missionary of success. I realized that in the office, sure we don’t really get much of a chance to go out and teach, but if we are diligent and most of all Patient with the other missionaries we become missionaries of success :P

This week I made no bake cookies!!! They were super good!! We went out with the members and took them to their neighbors. So far we now have all of the members addicted to peanut butter cookies :)

Well this week we did a bunch of stuff in the office. I am going to receive a new computer and so I was making a digital copy of all the passports and all the other important stuff that I have here!

Also we received some new Americans which was pretty fun! 

We learned a lot about responsibility this week. One of the ladies that we have been teaching told us how hard her life has been and how she always asks for God to show her a light. We talked to her once again about keeping the commandments and how this will bless her and how she will be able to see how this truly is the best thing.  The thing is that when we ask her if she is going to go church and she is like “I don’t know...maybe” and we were like COME PLEASE!! You ask God to show you a way to receive blessings and then you don’t follow when we show you!! Please just come with us and see how it betters your life!!! Unfortunately she still didn’t make any firm decision.  We are going to go to her house tomorrow at 08h30 to walk with her to church. I am hopeful but it just goes to show how everyone has their agency and is able to choose what they want. We even used that scripture with her.  It goes to show how we must take the first steps of faith!

I think that is about it for this week. I know that Christ lives, and that this church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. 

Love, Elder Pachner II