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

Giant book of Mormon!

6/27/15

 GOOD MORNING!!!!!!! I realize that it is super early there right now....super early?... not really cause it´s like 9h30!!!   Still that could be a little early :P

This week was awesome!!! This past Sunday was a super cool experience at the church!!

 A man walked into the chapel who I didn’t know and I started talking to him in Portuguese and he said “ I don’t speak Portuguese” so I switched to English and started talking to him.  He was here in Florianopolis to do business with the government. He owns his own software company. Guess where he lives...that is right, Provo, Utah. He asked me to translate for him so I did the best that I could translating Portuguese to English. In the end he gave me his name, his number, his email, and his company site. That just doesn’t happen out of the blue. I was actually talking to Sister Silva about it the other day and I felt the spirit while talking about my plans for after the mission so I hope that is a good sign :)

The coolest awesome thing that happened was with a giant Book of Mormon. Yesterday we set up in the Praça 15! (look it up on google!) and we had two exhibits about the Book of Mormon! We set up 10 banners in two different places and then we called the whole zone! 26 missionaries to come and help us out! It was awesome!! It started at 08h00 and it went until 11h15. Dad asked in his email about our finding group...well now we have over 100 names that we have to go search for :) Not just in our area, but all over Florianopolis. It was super fun but my throat is a little bit sore today from talking so much! We divided up into 2 groups and then into 3 sub groups in each group...finders, teachers, and writers.  The finders would talk to the people all over the park and bring them the to exhibit and then the teachers would teach about the Book of Mormon and where it came from.  Then the writers would write down everyone’s address who wanted another visit. It was super fun! My companion and I were in the finder group first. We started out and at the beginning....I don’t think I have received more no’s in my entire life.  Within 30 min I think we received 50 no´s but then we talked to this one guy and we took him to go be taught by the teachers!! I don’t think I have ever been happier to receive a yes on a contact in my life :) It was super awesome! Then everything just started rolling :) In the end just my companion and I talked to about 300 people :) It was super fun! 

A different experience that we had this week was during the emergency transfer because two new Americans arrived here in Floripa. I was trying to get everything done for them and it was super stressful and by 18h00 I was super stressed and just done with the day. We had some lessons that we had to give. Elder Jopia and I have this goal, to pray before we leave the office everyday so that we can leave behind all the stress. We prayed and then went to teach. We taught some recent converts who have not been to church for like 3 weeks so we got there and talked about how we need to overcome our doubts and fears. It was a very spiritual lesson and we left there feeling really good :) They promised to come to church tomorrow so pray for them :)

Then we went and talked to another one of our investigators. We tried to do our best to help her. She is in a really rough situation and we are trying our very best to help her out. I could just feel part of the Lords love for her and tried to help the best way I knew how. Please pray for her. She is in great need of prayer and divine help.

Well, I think that about sums up the highlights in a week in the life of Elder Pachner II  ;p 

    

 I know that this church is true! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that truly if one wants to become closer to Christ, all he has to do is read this book! 

I love you all with all my heart :)

Love, Elder Pachner II

Ears, Balloon popping, and Pie

6/20/15

With a title like that I know I have you full and undivided attention! :)

Let’s start with the ears.  Well this week I went to the otorrinolaringologista. Try saying that five times fast!!! It actually means...ear doctor....yeah I don’t think we have a super fancy word for them in English but maybe I just forgot :P   I went there because I haven’t been able to hear very well out of my ear for a little while. We went and it turns out that I had an ear infection. Now I am on antibiotics, but with this next week all should return to normal :)

I got my hair cut :) I will be talking to Chase today so I didn’t include a picture.  Now I even look like a Brazilian :) Even if it is just for the fact that it is like 55 degrees outside and I am all bundled up with a scarf, jacket, and gloves.  I am so going to die in the snow of Utah!!!

Balloon popping!!! We had a really cool ward activity that the ward mission leader and we put on. We started off the activity talking/singing because I have been given much and then we went and started a little dynamic learning by making a circle.   We gave one of the other missionaries a tennis ball and what you had to do is throw the tennis ball to the assigned person.  Then that person would throw it to their assigned partner and so on until it got back to the first person.  As people got better at catching and then throwing it to their assigned partners we started adding tennis balls into the circle and then it got difficult. What we wanted them to see was you have to focus on receiving and then passing along what you received, while never taking your eyes off the ball.  If you got distracted you would drop the ball. Then we talked about the work as missionaries. I shared the story that mom sent to me in an email about how our great grandparents received lessons from the missionaries while in Oklahoma and then I told them that is why I was there. Because a member decided to open his mouth and share what the missionaries had one time shared with someone in his family. It was cool because we talked about how it doesn’t matter if you are a recent convert or were born into a sealed family, at some point in time someone decided to share with your family what made them happy and so extremely blessed. So we made a challenge. We told them that we were going to mark with them and then go to their houses with plates of brownies and eat with them and then take some to their neighbors so that we can help the other people who so desperately need the gospel in their lives :) It was a success :) we have 3 companionships in the ward and so we got everyone marked down for a day :)

That is where we get into pie!! Yesterday was the first day doing the neighborhood visits with the members! Elder Jopia and I went to our ward mission leader’s house and we brought a pie with us :)  Then we went around and started talking with his neighbors. The first door.....I think the guy thought we were trying to sell him drugs or something like that because he said he didn’t want the pie or the Book of Mormon...but everyone else after that accepted us and now we have a couple new families to visit :) That is going to be really cool because we need to teach families!!! I mean everyone needs the gospel but there is nothing as cool as seeing a whole family baptized and know that in a year they will be able to be sealed together for time and all eternity!

We also had a cool experience while tracting this week. We were trying to visit some of our investigators and everyone was not at home...so as the backup plan we had chosen to stay on the same street and do some contacts. We were going without much success until we reached this old wooden house.  We clapped 3 times before a women opened the door and so we started talking to her about the who we were and about why we were there.  She said she had already seen the missionaries before and then she said that we had come at just the right time and so we told her where the church was and invited her to come.   She told us she would go and then said that she was passing though some rough times and that it seemed as though when she was talking to us she felt a feeling of peace!  It was awesome and both Jopia and I bore our testimonies about how much God wanted to help her and that was why we were there. I love these types of experiences because you can really see Gods hand in the work. I know that God does truly prepare people for us to teach, because he loves them and wants them to come unto him and be healed. I know this gospel is true and I know that Christ lives, this is his church!!

LOOVVVEEEE,

Elder Pachner II

(Remember Chase,  dad is the first, I am the second, and you will be the third.  The first was awesome, the second was more or less and the third will be the best...until the fourth comes ;P 

my week

6/13/15

 Well this week was good!! It was a little bit stressful with all the office work but all in all it keeps going...the only bad thing that happened is that this week was the mission counsel.....and unfortunately that brought with it a new rule....we are not allowed to play sports on the mission now. No basketball, volleyball, or ultimate frisbee...I was rather disappointed but then I realized that in murmuring I was being like Lamen and Lemuel and just decided to go and do it like Nephi. Besides, its only 9 more weeks ;P hahahahahahaha but no I’m not trunky....I’m prepared :P   At least that is what I told president and he started to laugh :P

It was interesting in the fact that now I have like a social security number here in Brazil!!! I am a citizen...except not :P

We were teaching the little ones again this week :) It is always a really cool experience because they understand so much and are so pure. It was interesting because as we were talking about the Book of Mormon and how you have to pray to receive the answer the 10 year old was like. ``but how will I feel??´´ It was interesting because she was so interested in what she would feel when so many of our investigators don’t ask any questions like the little kids!

We are teaching the Ecuadorians still and that is interesting. My companion teaches in Spanish because they understand it better....and that is when I realized that Spanish and Portuguese aren’t as close as I thought they were. But it was still good. It was one of the few moments when I was dying not really knowing what to say but it worked out fine in the end. It was interesting because I felt that I should speak a little bit stronger to the husband. The wife is truly a saint! She pays her tithing, studies the scriptures, prays very well, and is trying to become more like Christ. He does nothing. So we talked about the change that the gospel makes in us. We asked him what he would lose if he started reading, going to church, and practicing the gospel? He said nothing, and then we told him that he would lose a lot if he didn’t start practicing the gospel now! It was a good moment and the spirit was strong :)

I know that this gospel is true! That the spirit is the teacher!  What we are here to do as missionaries is invite the spirit into the homes of people so that they can feel the true  happiness that comes from following our savior Jesus Christ!! He lives and Loves each and every one of us :)

Love, Elder Pachner

My week

‏6/06/15

Well my week has been a little (really) crazy ;P It was Transfer week!! Which means craziness week :P

We had 4 Americans who got here straight from the United States....which meant that I had to do everything to get them registered.  I learned a bit more and now I am learning how to work with paperwork....it makes me realize that I really don’t want my job to be in front of a computer all day! I am so going for a science degree!! :) 

When I took all the Americans who were going home to the airport we ran into some other Americans who were going home after the iron man that took place here on the island. It was super weird to hear them speak in English and it was funny because they thought I was Brazilian (it looks like a got my tan back ;P) and they started talking about us.  Super strange, but now I know, I am so teaching all of you Portuguese :) It is way prettier than English ;P

Our investigators are getting close to baptism :) we have been helping one of our investigators stop smoking! She is now down to 4 cigarettes per day!! yahoo!!!

We had a really cool experience this past Sunday. Elder Jopia and I were running around trying to get all of our investigators to church. We were walking really fast trying get there on time to take our investigator by bus to church but as we were walking we saw this woman sitting outside and we said “good morning”  and she looked back at us, smiled, and said “good morning”. we past still talking but I had a thought, ´´Why didn’t you talk to her?´´  I thought about being late and not wanting to be weird walking back, but I felt the need to talk to her even stronger so I looked at Elder Jopia and he looked at me and we both knew we had to go back.  We walked back and we said hi but she had her eyes closed with ear phones in.  We called her like 4 times and she never seemed to hear...and it was kind of awkward but finally I walked up and touched her shoulder and she looked up at us startled.  We just started talking to her and we found out that she had already seen the missionaries and invited them to her house in Curitiba but she had moved. We told her that we needed to talk to her about eternal families and she started to get choked up and told us about her recent divorce and how she wasn’t sure if she would see her children again but we testified again and now we will be teaching her :) I left that contact feeling the spirit very strong. I knew that God had put one of his choice spirits in our way so that she could receive another chance to return to him one day :)  It was a good experience, a kind of experience that makes you super happy :)

I know that God loves all of his children and I know that he really wants every single one of his children to return to him and that is why we are here, to find the elect that are still out there :)

Love, Elder Pachner

my steller week :)

 5/30/15

Well this week was stellar :) I probably spelled the word wrong but I think I said it right so that is all that counts ;P

This week has been really good! It was not a too terribly stressful week and I only had to call president one time to tell him about something that I had done wrong with the transfer :P...We are going to be receiving a bunch of visa waiters this week 4 of them and then in another 3 weeks 2 more. I was planning on these 4 missionaries getting here on June 16 but it turns out that they are going to get here on 2nd of June....yeah but pres was cool and he didn’t get super frustrated with me.  Now this next week is going to be super crazy because I have to take them all to the Federal Police to register them! That will be interesting ;P

This week we were teaching the children again and they said something really funny!  We were talking about the restoration and about the life of Jesus Christ!  We asked them what Jesus did when he was here on the earth and the older one, she has 10 years old,  said “he saved us from sin and death”.  We were like, wow that is correct very good and my companion asked and what would have happened if he didn’t come. She said....we would be slaves of the devil! I was super impressed and it was super funny but it just goes to show how simple the gospel is and how simple the Book of Mormon is so that even the children can understand it :)

We started teaching a referral for a member this week. This woman´s story is really sad. Both her parents and her daughter recently died so we went there to teach about the plan of salvation. However when we went there the first time we discovered that she is an espiritista....she believes in reincarnation and in calling spirits from the dead and stuff like that. So that kind of was difficult to teach the plan of salvation. So this next time we taught about the restoration! It was great! She said she goes to a bunch of different churches but doesn’t really want to choose any one of them because they all lead to God.......but we taught and at the end she was like so I am like Joseph Smith trying to figure out which church is correct?  We were like yes!!!  She promised to come to church this week and read the Book of Mormon!!! Success! Well it is not our success but the spirit’s because if it weren’t for the spirit we would be toast! I really like talking about the restoration and the apostasy because I always feel the spirit really strong :)

Well, other than that I tried to fix a sink of our investigator...it reminded me of home because I was the flash light holder for a couple minutes. Then I gave it my shot but there was nothing that we could do without tools! It was funny because I looked at his son Dylan (he is 2) and I said this will be your job in a couple years ;P

That was my week :) I love you and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. That Christ restored his church though the prophet  Joseph Smith and that as we read the Book of Mormon we can come to have that sure testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God and that Christ lives and speaks to us still.

Love, Elder Pachner

Mosiah 3:19 become as a child

‏5/23/15

     Well, this week we were focusing on the children :P We stared teaching these kids who had recently been adopted by a family in our ward. Neither Elder Jopia nor I had had much experience teaching children 8-10 years old.  We deiced to do something really easy first to talk about prayer and the spirit. When we went to teach the girls they knew everything about prayer :P One just kept asking if we were going to read more scriptures and the other knew the answer for everything. It was cool because we asked them what can you pray for and they started off with a list: for mom, dad, grandma, our younger brother, for the food, for the doorman...etc. Then we asked when they should pray and they said in the morning before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner, at night, at family home evening. It was amazing :) I really liked it because it just shows us how much influence parents have! They were recently adopted but they are already familiar with all those ways to pray and family home evening. It was just something that I want in my life as well :)

The next thing that happened was that I actually felt like what we do in the office is very helpful.  Some of our investigators are from Ecuador and they had to go to the federal police to ask for residency.  They came into the office and I got all the papers sorted out for them and it was really cool :) 

I got my visa this week :) I now have another year of time in which I can stay in Brazil....mom how would you feel if I extended my mission??

Just kidding ;P I just wanted to mess a little bit :)

We had a cool lesson about faith and Alma 32! We talked about a little word, the ´´if´´.  I counted 13 ifs. It just shows us that our faith is in our actions. The way we act shows our faith and our commitment with God.  It was a really good lesson and it helped the woman who we are teaching so hopefully she will just put it into action :)

Let me think about other stuff....yeah I think that is about it :P we have had a good week this week and I am really learning a lot about discipline, something that I wasn’t so good at before. I think God saved the hardest attribute for my mission for last) but that means that it will be really good when finally get it down ;P

I know that this church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that little kids are the kingdom of God and as we become like them we will become more like Christ :)

I love you guys with all my heart!

Love, Elder Pachner

My week!

5/16/15

Well this week went pretty well :) Yes I got a little trunky after talking to you guys but it was the last thing that I did that day so it was all good because we went home, planned and slept and the next day I was all fine again :)

Monday I wrote in my journal!!!! :) That was a huge accomplishment because that is the first time in a long time that I have actually written. We went to one of our investigators house. Their toddler, Dylan, was a little sick so we gave him a blessing :) I love Dylan! He is two years old and he loves the missionaries! He always wants us to play with him but that day we was acting all sick just laying on the bed watching Rio. We would start messing with him and he would just try to look past us to watch the movie. The best part was my companion started pretending to hit his stomach and he just broke up into laughter :) There just isn’t anything that can make you smile like little kids laughing :) It was really funny!  Then we gave him the blessing. We went back there on Thursday and he was doing just fine :)

Also these investigators are from Ecuador so they speak in portãnol. hahaha It is fun to try and listen close so that I can understand them :) Actually my companion and I have started a new goal to learn each other’s native languages. So every night after we plan he is reading 5 verses of the Book of Mormon in English and I am reading 5 verses in Spanish and then we have to explain what we read in that language... so far it is going good. We have finished the first chapter of Nephi and we have started the second chapter :P It is going good and I am sure learning a lot :) I do like Spanish but still I think that Portuguese wins out by just a little (sorry Chase and Rachel ;p)

The other day I went on division with one of the assistants. That was interesting. We went to their area and were planning on teaching this one family about the plan of salvation but we ended up teaching about 3 Nephi 11. It was a really good lesson because it was really just a conversation! They were talking and asking questions and we were responding! It is so much better that way because it allows the spirit to testify much stronger because they are obviously interested in what you have to say. I love how it is the simple things that make all the difference.  We were talking about the Book of Mormon and how it was written by the prophets here and the woman said it just never made sense to me that God would only talk to the people over in Jerusalem.  We had the opportunity to testify and say God talks to everyone. He talks to men, women, and children, he loves each and every one of us. We are his children and he wants us to communicate with him as well so that we can return to him. That is the stuff that I like, that is when I can feel the spirit the most, when we share the simple truths of the gospel in a very clear form that nobody can deny. :)

We did some street contacts and we actually got invited to go back to this rich families house :) It was pretty awesome because usually the people in the big houses just talk to us through the intercom and don’t accept. But this guy came out of his house talked to us and offered us some water! It was super cool and now this next Thursday we are going back at 18h00 so wish us luck :) (By wish us luck I mean pray for us and him ;p)

I love you all and I know that this gospel is true! I know that faith is in the action and this gospel is all about that :) I love you all :)

Elder Pachner

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!‏

5/02/15

That is about how I felt this week :P This was my first week alone taking care of the office. It was super hard. Well actually the first day wasn’t too hard but the second was really stressful.  It was when all of the new missionaries got here and when all the old missionaries were leaving! That was a really strange day. I was running around making copies of all the documents of the new missionaries and doing all the stuff to renew their visas. It was really difficult and then at 5 o´clock i had to go and take all the missionaries leaving to the airport!!!!!!!! That was pretty trunky ;P   The only crazy thing was that when we got there, a problem came up and it looked like the Americans would have to only take 23 kilos instead of 63 kilos. That was a scare! I started to panic a little and I called São Paulo to try and get it all figured out and then in the end one of the workers turned out to be a member and allowed all the Americans to take all their baggage.  But it was really stressful. But this week was more about adapting to life alone in the office. 

The other day we had to use the skype because the firewall on one of the computers wasn’t working so we had to call Salt Lake and then they turned on the firewall but also turned on a safe guard that encrypted all of the files on the computer and made it so that we couldn’t log on.  We waited like the whole week to get all that worked out and finally we had to use skype so that the techs could see the computer screen. What is cool is this thing called team viewer that lets others control your computer. It was interesting. 

But this week doing everything was super stressful but I learned something. Dad sent me an email about the iron rod and how we need to hold on to it and we know that the iron rod is the word of god, so as we were teaching I was thinking that really that is what we need.  We all need to STUDY the scriptures every day. 

There is something cool in the Portuguese translation of the Book of Mormon. in 1 Nephi 8:24 , 30 it talks about the people that we going to the tree of life and it talks about 3 different ways the people gripped the rod, there are those who segurar (hold), those who are apegados (clinging), and those who agarravam-se (caught hold). As we read we see those who just held the rod got the tree but they fell away and the same thing happened to those who were just clinging to the rod but those who caught hold of the rod continued until the tree of life and never left it. It shows us that we cannot just read the Book of Mormon or that we can be content with just understanding the same things over and over again, but that we must study the Book of Mormon! This is a test for eternal life and we have all the guide books we need but we will never get a good grade if we just read the guide books but we have to study them so that we come out victorious from this test. It was just something that I learned this past week and I thought was interesting and wanted to share it with you guys :)

I love you guys so much! I know that families can be eternal, if we endure till the end. I know that the Book of Mormon blesses our life.  The way we learn to study the Book of Mormon we will come to learn more about Christ and as we come to learn more about Him we will come to know Him. 

Love, Elder Pachner