3/9/15 585

3/9/15

585

Maybe you are wondering what 585 means....it is how many miles we traveled by bus this week!

We went to Floripa for the leadership counsel and then we went to Joaçaba to do the zone meeting!! It was super long!!! At the leadership conference we had to do a practice...they got a white board and wrote 1 Timothy 4:11-16 on the two sides and then they called Sister Gregory and I to come up in the front and study it. That was super nerve racking, but in the end everything turned out fine and I didn’t feel bad when I had to explain it in front of the counsel. :) President actually complimented me :)

hahaha it was funny the other day we got home late...9:33 and so we had to call president....it was just funny because It reminded me of a conversation with dad :P ahahahahah president was like “Elders I always say don’t get home late and then you get home late. What do you want me to do?” :P It is just the tone of voice reminded me a lot of dad.  Seeing as I have practice of just recognizing you are wrong and try to minimize the damage everything was okay :p I added a little joke in at the end and he just laughed and we said good night :)

Well this is the last week of the transfer :) the charity thing isn’t working so far but I still have hope ;) If it doesn’t work in this next week I will know that I tried my best to do everything :) 

Love, Elder Pachner

Foot long pizza!

 I am on top of the World!

3/2/15 Charity Never Faileth

3/2/15

Charity Never Faileth

Well I think that everyone knows more or less the situation. I had to call Pres. about what has been going on. That was not fun...as of this week the other elders have not talked to me. But the other day I understood something...we were teaching about charity and as we were teaching it really hit me that this is what I needed to do to help the situation. I tried talking, didn’t work, I tried using higher authority, ...worked ish, so I decided that if charity NEVER faileth I might as well give it a try! I was studying about it and I saw in PMG it says charity like faith leads to action. That was something I had never thought of before. I had been praying to have charity but less frequently I was acting upon it. If you look in the GEE (I think it is the topical guide in English) charity and in see also it says, ´´love, service´´ that was the answer!! Service! So I have decided to put charity to the test. I am doing one act of service for everyone that is in the house per day! I sure hope that it works! :)

We learned some new ways to study the scriptures the other day. Pres. said that we need to read the same scripture group 3 times...the first time read quickly to understand the context and what the prophet thought most important for the people to know. 2nd then we study each verse more calmly searching for key words and the verbs. Then 3rd find the things you have missed. 

It is like eating when we are hungry. The first read is like looking at the food. That gives you a good idea of what it will probably taste like but it doesn’t stop you hunger. The second read is like when we are eating the food and it fills us and we just don’t feel like there is room from anything more....and then comes desert ;P (3rd read) there is always room for desert!

But that was my week!! I am doing good! I am just trying to do what is right and be the best missionary I can be :)

I know that the greatest commandment was put God in front of EVERYTHING like In front of our fears, ambitions, appetites, and desires. The second is similar; love your neighbor like you love yourself (charity) that is the true test. I know that we need to have these commandments in the right order if we are to do things the Lords way. I love the Lord and I have come to love my Savior even more these past couple of week. I know that everything happens according to the Lords will and that if we do our very best we have the promise that he will be with us during all of our trials.

Love, Elder Pachner

2/23/15 Week 130

2/23/15

Week 130

Just kidding, I don’t really know how many weeks I have been on the mission ;P

This week was a good week. I had a cool experience about the mercy of God. I was reading in Alma 31 and studying verse 2. I was reading and thinking about the sadness that Alma felt because of seeing his brothers falling away in disobedience. I started to look at the foot notes in the bottom and I saw one that went to Moses 7:41 or something like that as I read I felt like I understood a little bit more what God feels and how sad he must feel sometimes and how much joy he also feels when we follow him. I finally understood why it says in Jacob 4:10 great mercy. It was a good study :)

Also the other day there was a baptism of a man who is truly amazing. He was a drunk and he lived in more of a cave than a house but after 8 weeks of the missionaries going there he was baptized. It is amazing to see the transformation of people and realize that I need to always have faith that all people have the potential to be baptized. 

Give referrals to the missionaries!!!!! Please!!! We love them and it is the best thing in the world to teach with us :) I promise :)

Ohhh and We had a division with the assistants this week! It was really fun!! And If elder Stakebake gets in to BYU I have already found my roommate!! He is awesome! He is from Logan Utah and super cool!!

This next week we are going back to Floripa to have another counsel! Fun times riding the bus ;P

My investigators are going good. The two that were marked for baptism fell but we are still teaching....I feel like they are Jerrys. They are really smart and that makes it a little bit harder for them to accept. What did you guys do dad to help out Jerry and what are some of the questions that he had?

The former atheist went to EFY!!! She loved it and she now has 40% that the church is true.........okay we will work on that ;P but if everything came easy it wouldn’t be so much fun ;P

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!! I know that God loves us. His mercy is infinite so that we can live with Him, it is enough to live the gospel.

Love, Elder Pachner  

2/16/15

2/16/15

Well, this week was full of adventure!! It is Carnival here in Brazil so that makes all the things way more interesting. It is not really that great because everyone travels to go to the beach cities to party it up so a lot of people aren’t home.  We were still able to talk to some people. We were talking to one of our investigators the other day. He is having problems getting over the fear of being baptized. He knows it is true but he wants more of a confirmation.  We talked about Peter and how even though he was taught by Jesus Christ himself, and he still wasn’t converted.  He was only truly converted when he received the gift of the Holy Ghost to help him. (Acts 3)  When he was converted, he baptized 3000 people. It was a very strong lesson and now his is marked for this week.  Still pray for him so that everything can be okay!

We had conference with president this week. It was really good. We watched meet the Mormons! It was a super funny movie and I really liked it! I was a little truncky when they showed Annapolis, Maryland!! I was like.....home!!!!   but then I was better again :P

While we were at the conference we had to walk a little to get to lunch. As soon as we left the chapel it started to pour rain! Then when we got to the restraint it stopped and then when we got back to on the road to the church the skies opened up again and we got soaked.  I am going to wash my suit now. 

Then we had Friday the 13!! It was the horrible! :P We went to Floripa for another conference. When we got there everything went great until we had to return home.  We missed our bus back. Then we got stuck in Floripa until 11 at night! When we went to the bus station there was a crazy man that was yelling about the bible and he started yelling os elders os elders!! So we were forced to go and talk to him......it wasn’t to fun.....and then my companion Elder Montoya took the cell phone and acted like we got a phone call so we backed away slowly. It was really a strange day but in the end everything turned out okay and we returned to our area at 6 in the morning on Saturday.

sei que essa igreja é verdadeira. sei que nosso salvador jesus cristo vive que ele restaurou a igreja por meio do Joseph Smith! E sei que essa obra é verdadeira por que sento tanto felicidade fazendo-a :)

Love you all! 

Elder Pachner

2/9/15 My Week

2/9/15

Well everyone is asking about the atheist investigator.... we have a date marked for her to be baptized!!!!! 28 of Feb.! And this week she is going to EFY!   That should be of great help to her :)

Everything is going great this week! I am just really happy! Sunday I was super tired but for some reason I just felt really happy! I am very grateful to God for that! The most important thing is finding joy in the journey! And for me the best way to find happiness is working my heart out! I love talking to people but funny thing is that I love talking to the people on the street! It is really fun for some reason! :)

Ummmm this week we have been working really hard!! 

This week was really good!! I am trying to remember the experiences from this week but nothing is coming to mind........!!! Frustration! So this week we have been teaching a lot of different people.  We have been teaching some great investigators. One of our other investigators is also preparing to be baptized! It is pretty easy because he is a boyfriend of a member! Have I ever mentioned how much I love members!! They give amazing references! So remember to give the missionaries references!!! :) 

I Love studying!!! It is really energizing to read  every day! It is one of the things that I love the most about the mission :) 

Physically I am doing great and even better spiritually! ....only problem is mentally I have hit the point on the mission where I am literally going crazy :P This week my companion and I acted like knights on the street galloping around :P don’t ask me why....it just came to mind :P

Love, Elder Pachner

What a Week

2/02/15

 This week was really good! It was the last week for elder Miranda!!! I finally killed a companion!! It was funny, he didn’t want to get his bus ticket to go home! He put it off until the last day!

So this week we had interviews with President! That was really cool! We studied a talk by Elder Nelson about the atonement! I learned so much! It was really good! And then I had my interview with him. It was good because we just kind of sat back and talked to each other. I asked him about how I could be a better leader and he told me to just keep focusing of Jesus Christ and I would get better.

So this week we marked our atheist investigator to be baptized!!! It was super cool!!! She accepted and so we are trying to help her for 21/02! Hopefully all will go well, but please pray for her so that she can accept all the commandments!!!

We had a lesson with an investigator about the law of chastity this week. We were talking and they were having problems accepting. They started talking about how it was natural and elder Miranda started talking about the atonement and then I saw a scripture that was perfect for the situation! I used Mosiah 3:19! The natural man is an enemy to God! Perfect!!! But in the end we told them that they needed to pray about the Book of Mormon to really know if it was true or not! It is actually really simple! If we have a testimony of the Book of Mormon we also know that Joseph was a prophet of God and that this church is the church of God here on the earth!! 

I love you guys and cannot wait to see you when I get home!!

Love, Elder Pachner

1/26/15

1/26/15

This week we were stoned by a little girl ;P hahaahaha it was pretty funny actually we were leaving the house of one of our recent converts and her granddaughter (she is 3) started walking towards us looking all mad. I was like what is going to happen and then she got down and picked up rocks and started throwing them at us hahahaha it was pretty funny.  I turned to my companion and I said “Now we are real missionaries! People are trying to stone us ;P  So officially I can say when I see the olden prophets that we too were stoned by the people ahahahahahhahahaha :)

We had a division with the assistants on Wednesday but what happened was elder Stakebake got sick so I stayed in the house with him all day....not fun! I don’t know what I am going to do without a companion!! He was asleep and I just walked circles around the house. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t have anyone to talk to! That was strange!

This is the last week of my companion!!!!!!! AHHHHHH He is actually doing really good and he is a great example of how I want to finish my mission! Working hard until the end!!

I think that is about all this week! Our investigators went to church and the atheist continues to progress :) that is one of the best things that I have seen on the mission! 

Ohh yeah I talked to a guy from Congo the other day! He didn’t speak Portuguese so I did a contact in English...........it was super bad! I have a rough time with English now....who knows if in May, when we skype,  I  just look at you guys without being able to communicate ;P just kidding mom ;P 

I love you all :)

Elder Pachner