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

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