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

My Week

 4/25/15

This week we have been running around a lot!!! In the office everything is going good. This was the last week of the transfer so it was super hectic here in the office. It is super strange because we did a bunch of stuff but I cant remember all the things that we did :P 

Officially everyone in the house is addicted to playing ninja.  I don’t really remember how it started but everyone plays so that we can go and play ninja as a huge group. Well now in the apartment we have 7 elders. It started with 5 at the beginning of the transfer but because two missionaries had to go home we have picked up the other two. They are cool and it actually makes everything a lot easier to clean because there are a lot more people to do the work. This week was Elder Hardman´s last week here in Brazil! Elder Jopia and I will be taking him to the airport on Tuesday!  Yup, I get to take all the Americans to the airport every transfer :P

Well this week something funny happened. I had to call the USA because of some boxes left by a missionary here in Brazil. I had to talk with the missionary’s mom in English.  The conversation started off all wrong because I said, oí boa tarde, tudo bem? and his mom was like “what??” and then I realized I was talking in Portuguese. Then I tried to explain to her about the postal service here in Brazil and everything. In the end we understood each other but I realized that my English is super, super bad and that I will probably end up talking to you guys in sign language on mother´s day ;P I cannot believe that we are already at the end of April!! The time seems to be flying

I love you guys!! Thank you for all the emails that you guys send me :)

Love, Elder Pachner

Frisbee and Grandchildren

‏ 4/18/15

Well this week has been really good actually :) It started off a little strange but now everything is back on track! 

The coolest thing that has happened is that my grandson is serving with us here in the office (that’s right mom and dad, I had grandchildren before you guys did ;P)

Elder Muniz! He is from Espirito Santo (holy ghost) (I love the name of the states here when you translate them. The river of January {rio de janeiro}, thick weeds {mato grosso}, big river of the north {rio grande do norte}, big river of the south {Rio grande do sul}.

But the best thing is that he is really funny! He had to come here because his companion was going home early and he couldn’t stay where he was so we took him in. But at first he was all sad and discouraged but after a couple days he was back up and happy :) It was cool to watch that happen and to be with him now :)

Well this week we marked one of our investigators for baptism :) :) She is marked for the 25 of April!! Pray for her so that she can be ready for this day :) During the lesson Elder Muniz and I were talking to her and Elder Muniz asked her “What do you want from God?” and she was like “I want peace and to resolve all the problems I´m having.” and then he asked her ´´and what do you think God wants from you?´´ and she was like ´´I don’t know......keep the commandments?´´ and then we used Mosiah 2:41 to tell her about how that is exactly how God works and then we turned to 3 Nephi 27:20 hahahha it was super perfect and the spirit was really strong :)  It was a great experience and she accepted the invite that Elder Muniz made :)

I love the scriptures!! They have the answer to everything!!!!!!!!!

I know this church is true. I know that God loves all of us. This is why He sent His son and why His son lives again, so that we can be together FOREVER!

Love, Elder Pachner