Elder Pachner Letter from 10/16/2013.

HIIIIII :) I am so glad that you guys signed up for mission ties!!! now I don't have to send about 4 dollars worth of letters :) I have been having a good week!!! It is so crazy this Friday we are going out into Sao  Paulo center and are going to be proselytizing for real !!!!!! ;) I know isn't it awesome. 

Today I decided that I was going to give up speaking English ..yeah I know that is really kind of scary and seems like a super big task but I know that the Lord will help me as I do my best to become like Him and put my all into the language.  

My investigator is being baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (well my fake investigator who is my teacher) and it was super cool!!!! We were teaching and we felt impressed to ask him so we did! His baptism date is on the 12 of November  Also had another experience that wasn't so cool but it helped me learn a lot. So my comp and I were preparing for a lesson and everyone else had already gone and so they were being a little rowdy and talking and singing all sorts of stuff....and i got carried away and didn't focus on rereading my lesson. Then when it came to be our turn to teach we went to go into the lesson and I just didn't feel the spirit very strong. It was like a pointless lesson because we didn't even really get to teach our investigator very much....it just showed me that I need to do my part if I want the Lord to help me! Lesson Learned. 

Also this week i watched the 17 miracles !! So amazing sometimes i forget how much more people gave for me to be a part of this church. I decided that I want to be humble like Levi Savage, to always press onward like the little small guy Simon  and to have charity for all those around me like George  It just really impressed me how extremely Christlike those early saints were! I am so very grateful for all that they went through for me. 

What else happened this week...Um we got some new room mates who are Brazilian so we are trying to teach them English !! Next week they are going to pray in English so please pray for them!!! I am just so very happy to be here. I feel like I have been for like many years and then i realize yesterday was the half way point!!!! Ridiculous I know !!!!! We have classes for like 12 hours a day! I use to think that I studied hard......no comparison to the extreme amount I study here on the mission!! I have 3 out of the 13 articles of faith down and I am trying to have them all memorized by the time I am done!!! :) 

So what has been going on at home?? Ohhh and today we were in the temple and we had sometime so we got to do baptisms.  It was cool because I got to preform some of them in Portuguese so it was a big help to practicing for when I am out in the field! Today we have a special devotional broadcast from the Provo mtc and I am betting that it is going to be either Elder Holland or President Uchtdorf speaking.  If you have the conference ensign  could you send me one :) I really want to reread the talks!!! I found an amazing scripture; d and c 122 7 at the end....I give you all these things for your good. I know that I have been through tough times and one of the questions that an investigator asked was why does God allow suffering? I used that scripture and said if God made life easy would we have learned anything?  God gives us trials that we might become better and over come them. Deus da nos dificil tempos porque ele quer nos tornar-se melhor e venemos isso tempos. that sentence is Portuguese more or less!! I am feeling like i can kinda understand when people are talking so hopefully I will become more proficient as I work at it :)

I love all of you so very much :)

Elder Pachner

PS: 

I remember some other stuff :) also we watched this short video on the atonement...it just talked about how we are now representing Jesus Christ and how some missionaries ask sometimes why missions are hard....the Apostles responded if it was hard for Jesus,  a perfect missionary,  what made you think it was going to be easy for you. They said that every time you are tired, disheartened, pushed to hard, turned down, hit, spat upon....remember the Savior....when you think you have done enough and you deserve a rest....think of the Savior think of how He never gave up for you and still continues to never give up on you! think about how he never had rest. They said on a mission you have to go through a small portion of what Jesus went through to become like Him and bring souls unto Christ  It was amazing! I felt the spirit super strongly as they talked about it! Make sure you watch this video called "The Spirit" by David A Bednar...It changed how I though about the Holy Ghost and my relationship with him. I am so very glad  to be here! my teachers are amazing!! I wouldn't have traded any experience at college for what i am learning right here in Brazil!!!

10/09/13 Letter from Kade while in the MTC:

HIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!! Boa Tarde!

Conference was the most amazing thing in the whole world!!! IT was sooo amazing! When the opening prayer was said and the speaker prayed to bless the missionaries all around the world with the spirit I literally felt the spirit come! Such a cool way to see that prays are really answered! :) 

I am so happy here!!! It is extremely hard. Everyday seems like an eternity and a second at the same time!! all the days blend together but when you have been here a week it feels like a year! I am sending you letters today!!! Two! and I hope they will be able to make it to the US in about 3 weeks! did you get the thing from mission ties about sending me emails and they print them out at letters so I can read them throughout the week? 

More about conference though! I had such a cool experience with just listening to it. I don't think i have ever listened that hard to anything in my life!! When we sang called to serve you could feel the spirit just filling up the entire room!!! Please pray for me and my comp....its kinda rough right now for me so if you could pray that I could be nice to him that would be great :) So I was teaching a new investigator and we were talking about the restoration and everything and when it came time to bear my testimony I told him this. Eu sei que eu pode viver com meu familia em vida eterna. Eu sei que deus ama mi e ele querer me para voltar com ele. Eu sei que o livro de mormon e verdade. Eu sei que e verdade. After i said that small testimony I knew that it was true and that I can live with my family forever! You have no idea what a comfort that is to me! That because Jesus atoned for our sins we can live with him for all eternity in HAPPINESS! such a cool thing! I am working on become more humble and gaining increased charity for my fellow man! 

Have you ever thought about charity? it is really hard to come by and even harder to gain! so i have been reading Moroni 7 to try and help me learn about it so i can become it. Today we went to the temple and i bought this awesome picture book that I can use for all my lessons!!! It has pictures from the creation bible book of Mormon and the restoration!!! I was so very excited about it!!! It has been sooooooooo funny! when we first got the the ctm they gave us all a paper entitled lock your heart.....pretty much saying you better not fall in love while you are here... so anytime a guy goes up to talk to a sister missionary my comp always screams lock you heart elder....kinda funny :P Anyways my heart is so very locked....Truth be told i don't even really notice girls like that here. I am so totally focused all the time that there really is nothing else to think about! Just yesterday I carried out a conversation with a native Brazilian for about 30 at breakfast!!! 

I am soooo pumped!! I mean all i know are gospel words but i have been sorta able to apply what i have learned! It was super cool! We actually are teaching another investigator tonight! plan of salvation we are breaking up into 4 parts because i never really realized how much information is in the plan of salvation before i tried to teach it....it is soo much!!

Anyways I was soooooo happy with general conference....so many of the talks applied to us and i just know that the Lord can communicate to us through impressions we receive as we listen to his words through the Apostles and Prophets. I also thought of something else as I was listening....women really do bring the spirit like amazingly strong. Elders are just different than sisters and Sometimes i really do wish i had sisters in my classes because of the amazing spirit that they bring. 

Another funny thing... my comp dropped his scriptures and some sisters that were walking by were like "ohh no your wife just got uglier" and then i said the harder you work the prettier your wife.... and then they told me no that it is the more you pray the prettier you wife! I was like awesome ... I pray about every single 10 seconds of the day so my wife is going to be a goddess :P It was just funny! 

Sometimes it is really stressful here but those are the times that you have to think like President Monson and say "shall i falter or shall i finish' That is awesome!!! :) i love him so much he is super inspirational. 

So the food here is kinda funky....but i eat it so i figure it is all in good practice!!! Have you sent me any letters??? I would love to hear from all of you not just mom and dad :) 

Another way i saw prayer answered was the first day i got here i felt so overwhelmed and just so inadequate so as soon as my new comp left the room i knelt and prayed....And as soon as I was done with the prayer I felt peace! It was the best thing in the world :) I know that my Father in Heaven knows me on a personal level. One last thing we watched this video about the atonement. It was saying that some missionaries ask why it is so hard serve a mission. And the Apostles answered that if the Savior, a perfect missionary, had such a hard time, what makes you ever think that yours would be easier? They said whenever you are tired or just feel like you have done enough....remember the Savior.. There is always someone else to teach there is always someone else to be given the opportunity to everlasting life through you so when you are tired and done remember the Savior. remember that He was nailed to the cross for you so you could share this gospel and bring souls unto Him. I love my Savior! I know that He lives and I know that I will live with Him again As i strive to learn to become like Him

 

I love you also very much and I want you to know I know my Redeemer lives.

 

Love, Elder Pachner

MTC Letter

     Hey!!! Frist P-day so I am able to write to you guys for about 45 min...so excuse all the mistakes in the typing. So yes the travel was super tough but I think i am getting over it okay! Today we went to the Sao Paulo temple which is my new favorite temple! 

     So about the language yes it is super hard but I know that the Lord is helping me so incredibly much to learn the language. Not only Portuguese but the language of the spirit. There is a certain spirit here that I have only felt in one other place...the temple! It is pure learning and we are all progressing at such a fast rate!!! 

   We are allowed to go outside of the MTC here and walk around the city for a little bit!!!! It was kinda scary and really different but fun like an adventure at the same time!!! I am so very excited about the work! I love Portuguese! IT is a really beautiful language and I cant wait to be fluent in it!! Today we went out to go get churrios which happen to be the bestest thing in the whole entire world! then we went to the store and bought hangers and got soccer jerseys because they are cheap now before the world cup but as soon as it starts they are going to jump in prices! 

     I have had some really cool spiritual experiences. Did i tell you that we started teaching on the Friday after we got into the MTC in Provo in Portuguese? it was really scary but i felt the spirit strongly. It helped me know what to say and even though i couldn't always find the right words I knew the pescidsador (investigator) knew what I meant and felt the spirit. I realize now that I have a very strong testimony of families! I am so very grateful that I will be sealed to you forever and know that If we live righteously we will be together for all eternity! I know that my trust in God has increased as i have had to totally rely on him to help me learn this crazy new language in a totally crazy land!!. I am so happy to be a part of this gospel and I know that I am doing all that the Lord wants me to do. I know that God answers prayers! 

     The food is not soo bad.....it is at least edible :) I try really hard to try everything at least once and right now I am not to terribly sick!! How is everything at home? By the way the mtc (ctm) down here doesn't accept packages...i think? and the shoes are great but I am going to need another pair so one can dry out while i wear the other ones. 

     I am so humbled when I look at all those around me who have come from all over the world to serve a mission and I learn what they have had to give up to come on a mission I realize how great life in america really is. The people here are so nice! today we had people just come up to us on the street and try talking to us!!!! They are much more humble here in Brazil as apposed to America.

hahahahahaha i learned something kinda funny too!!!! so i was nervous once we got off the airplane so I was snapping my fingers and clapping my hands and just kinda fidgeting........until someone told me that is how you call prostitutes in Brazil,,,,,,,,haaahahah it was just kinda funny to think i had been doing that! 

    Our teacher in Provo told us something before we left....he said look at the pre-mortal life.....it was huge wasn't it....he says all we did when we were there was learn. He then said don't you think that the Lord would have taught you Portuguese before you came to this earth...don't you think that you are learning it so fast is  because you already know it you just need the spirit to help take the veil from off you mind so that you can RELEARN it faster? We just felt the spirit as he talked and I know what he was saying was true!!!  I love you all soo very much!!!!! I will have another p-day on Wednesday so expect an email from me then!!!! :) I really am so very excited to be here and happy to be serving the Lord..

one more thing the Sunday devotional at the mtc was the most amazing thing in the world. I felt the spirit so strongly ....It was such a powerful experience as I listened to talks about the temple and women and how sacred they both are!!

      :) it is very funny the day we got here we got a thing that we had to read about locking your heart so you wouldn't fall in love with the girls hahahahahah it was kinda funny :P

Love, Elder Pachner