smiles, sheep and excel sheets

smiles, sheep, and excel sheets

4/11/15

I think that is like the definition of our week this week :P 

We have been having a bunch of fun there in the office this week. It has been a bunch of running around and solving a bunch of problems. We had to authenticate a bunch of documents for São Paulo and send it to them. But everything turned okay. 

Now we are making an excel sheet to help out all the people that are learning English here.

About the sheep....so yesterday I was taking care of some elders that were here for interviews with President. So one of the elders was sleeping in our room and I had just got in there to go to sleep and he said something to me....and it didn’t make any sense. And he repeated it like 3 times and I was like ummmmm that isn’t even close to any word that I know in Portuguese. Then I got up and left to brush my teeth and when I got back he was just sitting in bed laughing!  I asked him what was up and he said that when I had kneeled down to pray I had looked exactly like a sheep during his sleep.....it was super strange but really funny at the same time :P 

About the smiles...well we had the baptism of our two investigators this week! That was pretty awesome :) Nothing beats a general conference where in the break between sessions you get to see two baptisms :) 

I had a bunch of favorite talks during the conference but that ones that I most liked were: a cookie and a kiss, President Uchtdorfs about grace, and the sister from the relief society presidency who gave the questions and then said if you are feeling guilty you should repent. It was a really good talk and I really like it when people are honest and frank.

The other day I had an experience with that. We were teaching this one woman who said that she believed the Book of Mormon to be true.  We said awesome, but how do you know and she said...why would I doubt it if you guys told me. Why would you lie to me? Then we told her that she needed to pray and a bunch of stuff and then we explained about what you know if you believe that the Book of Mormon is true. I used 1 Nephi 14:10 to explain that there is no other church other than the church if you know the Book of Mormon is true....she seemed a little taken a back  but still in the end she promised to go to church this Sunday and learn a little bit more and really understand it :) 

I love you guys so much and I hope that everything went really well!! I am sorry about the wisdom teeth....now you guys need to study the scriptures a lot more.

Send me Jesse´s email address!!!

And good luck chase!!1 :)

Love, Elder Pachner

4/04/15

I love general conference!!!!!!

Well this week was wonderful and stressful at the same time. Wonderful because we have some amazing investigators that we are teaching and I felt the spirit strongly this week.  On the other hand it was super stressful because there was zone conference and that is when absolutely everyone calls me to buy bus tickets!!!!! Talk about a headache! I was away from the office for one hour teaching a lesson and when I turned back on my phone I had 12 lost calls!!! That was after 1 hour!!!!!

…but getting away from the stress of the work place let me talk about my wonderful experiences  :)

This week we have be preparing 2 of our young investigators for baptism! They are going to be baptized tomorrow during the interval of conference! Their parents (who aren’t members) were super excited because they wanted them to be baptized while ´´our prophet´´ talks!! They are only non members for now! Just wait like 1 month and you will get the pictures of them getting baptized as well :)

Well we taught them about the restoration and that was something really cool! But as almost always, as soon as we got through the first vision they got distracted by people passing by...but still the spirit was there and they understood everything. Then the next day we taught them at a member’s house. While we were there the other children came to listen to the lesson as well. It was cool because we taught about the plan of salvation. We taught them using little laminated paper circles that have everything in pictures on them. All the children, their ages were 13, 10, 9, and 8, liked to ask a lot of questions as we taught...some relevant others....not so much :P but it was really good because we got to teach everything really simple!! Holy smokes I learned that is it really hard to teach a bunch of children.  Mom props to you for the primary children :) (You too Rachel, I know you have been teaching a bunch of children :) ) I need tips from all of you guys to help me out. But it was interesting....the one with 8 years old said that she would like to go the terrestrial world because she likes the moon so I was like alright let’s forget the moon it is like in the Telestial world you will eat charcoal, and in the Terrestrial world you will eat beets, and in the Celestial world you will chocolate....the moms didn’t like the example to much ;P

The other day we were teaching the parents and they had a question about the apostasy. It was a good question. They started talking about how the bible was gathered together in 400 AD and how the successors of the apostles were there and I was like, nope not exactly. They were like What?  and I was like, well see this so the first pope he claimed to have received the right from Peter to be their first pope or ´´father´´ i.e. leader of the church right...and they were like, Yes and then I was like but why would he have become the leader of the church when John, an original apostle, who walked, and talked with Jesus, was still alive? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for John to be the leader???  They were like uhhh that makes sense, and then we shared in 1 timothy and in 2 Thessalonians about the apostasy! It was really good and I was able to bear my testimony! :) I love being a missionary and feeling the spirit so strong!!! I don’t ever want to loose it :)

Well I really like conference! My favorite was by Elder Packer! It was about eternal marriage....trunky!!!!  I really did like his talk it was awesome :) It made me think about how truly important it is that we are for all eternity not something that will be a short term decision. Your spouse needs to be a decision that you have thought about for a long time and that you have prayed and fasted and gone to the temple and done everything until you receive that confirmation that you are doing the right thing! But don’t worry I will wait until after my mission to start that whole thing ;P  hahaha

I love you all!!! I know that this gospel is true and I know that Jesus Christ lives!!! He is the head of this church and he has chosen our prophet, Thomas S. Monson and every one of the twelve apostles. They hold all the keys of the priesthood!  That is where this church becomes different from all others. The authority was restored and because it was we all, men, women and children, have been, are being, and will forever be blessed!

Love, Elder Pachner

3/28/15

 Well this week we had some funny things that happened and some funny errors that I made so at least I know that I have not yet reached perfection ;P ahhahaa just means that I am going to have to keep working on that :P But hopefully I have about 80 years to work on that ;p

So first error....this is the worst....we live in this apartment complex here in Floripa! We live on the 12th floor and below us there is just the sidewalk and the street.   What happened....Elder Jopia and I were playing catch with a soccer ball and we were just throwing it back and forth and then I threw the ball kind of wrong....and it hit Elder Jopia in the knees.....then went out the window!!!!!!   I got really white and really scared! I didn’t even believe it! It took about 5 years for the ball to hit the ground!! I was just waiting for the sound of it hitting someone on the head or a car! I was just about crying! but (I am sure by a blessing of God) it didn’t hit anyone or anything and when went down to the street and talked to the doorman and asked sorry and told him what happened!! Now it is funny but in the moment I wanted to die!!! but now I know I am never going to play with a ball with the window open.

This is one of the best things in the world!!! Because we live on an island there is a super cool running path right next to the beach!!! The other day elder Jopia and I went running right by the ocean!! It was super cool!!  Today we all got together and played ultimate Frisbee!! It has been so long since I have played and it was 2v3 so that was difficult but it was super fun!!

People  that we teach!

Well there were two lessons that were really special this week. One we were teaching this family of less active members. We taught them about our purpose here on this earth and elder Jopia asked everyone to say the thing that they want most.  She said that she wanted to get married in the temple! We talked a little about that and then I had a different impression than I had ever had... I told them that it was a warning...to not forget what we had talked about or how they had felt. The spirit was really strong and it was just an interesting experience. This has never happened before.

The other was really cute! We are teaching these two kids who are 13 and 10 so that they can be baptized on the day of general conference!  When we got there they had gotten their school note books to take notes on what we said :) It was just super cute and it showed the value that they had for what we had to say :) I love the kids that we teach! :)

Well I think that is about it for this week. I love you all so much! I am truly grateful everyday that we are sealed as a family for all eternity :) I know that this church is true. It is the only church that offers exaltation and the only one with the authority to bind families together. When I think about heaven....heaven really wouldn’t be heaven if my family wasn’t there with me! I love you with all my heart!

Love, Elder Pachner