What a Week

wellll what a week! and a half haha
hmm so lets start with last Monday, we finally ended up going to that zoo, it was awesome. it was pretty small but it was way fun, not alot of people and no one in the zone complained (the best part). Tuesday we had zone counsel! it was awesome, went to the temple and ya, it was a great day. Wednesday thru Friday were kinda normal, we went on a couple visits with president Ardila, he is amazing. this weekend was one of the best weekends of my whole mission. Saturday morning we had a "helping hands" service with all of peru. each stake in Peru on Saturday did a huge service project. our stake did a bunch of stuff, they cut and washed kids hair, handed out clothes, picked up trash, and put roofs on houses. since I'm the tallest person in all of Peru (ha ha) i of course helped with the roofs. we put a roof on a house on the top of a mountain like the size of squaw peak, it was awesome. unfortunately i got super sunburnt tho. but Saturday night totally made up for it. that night we had the baptism for Milagros and Carolina, seriously the coolest thing ever. they are two awesome converts, Milagros is seriously one of my favorite people ever. her story is one i will remember forever and one that has strengthened my testimony soooo much. Sunday morning we had another baptism! it was the baptism of Cristina and her little brother Jeremy.
Cristina is soo awesome and has such a desire to learn and follow the commandments. sunday at church was awesome. Milagros and Cristina came to church super dressed up and pretty, i couldn't be any more proud seriously. that feeling when i saw both of them in the chapel just so happy was one of the strongest feelings I have had on the mission and in my life. we gave all of our converts Sunday their scriptures that the mission gives, and i also gave them each ctr rings. i told them they weren't from me but from you and they were so insanely happy. Milagros's says hi and she loves you. just seriously an awesome weekend and its super hard to explain how happy i was for them. i am sure being a parent you must understand the joy i felt. keep them in your prayers.
today we just went to the temple as a zone and we are gonna try and go to a museum. wish us luck on that one.
well i am going to send some pics real quick and then i gotta go! love you lots! ill update more on Monday.
keep being awesome - study your scriptures and keep saying your prayers !!!!
Elder Paolacci

(you can click on pictures to make them larger)

No Email today . . . .

But I did get a facebook message from a missionary who just completed his mission and returned home to Ecuador. his message said
" Sister Paolacci. I know your son. I served with him on my mission. He is a powerful missionary with a very strong testimony of our Savior. He is my friend. Thank you"


But I did find the picture of Elder Paolacci and Elder Rider (one of his best friends he was with during his training in the MTC and CCM) after consejo last week (consejo is zone counsel that is held the first Tuesday of every month, where all the zone leaders come to Lima and have a training with the mission president and his wife. Dylan LOVES this every month getting to see some of his buddies that he has served with. What an amazing opportunity to be a Zone Leader. He is learning and growing in ways I am sure he never thought possible and he is doing an amazing job) 

(not often Dylan is serious in photo's with his friends)

Here is another picture I found of some of his buddies. I am going to assume that Dylan was taking this picture because his companion Elder Biliter is in it.

Back Row : Elder Taylor, Elder Rider, Elder Biliter, Elder Johns Front : Elder Brown

This is a picture from Pedro's baptism last week

Dylan says he reminds him so much of grandpa Paolacci. Pedro has had a stroke and so Dylan and Elder Biliter baptized him together, they said it was a really cool experience. 

It was a true act of faith for Pedro because of his health concerns and going in the water that  was freezing cold. Dylan and Elder Biliter had to be up to their necks in freezing cold water and Dylan had to lift up the Pedro's feet so he could go under all the way.

Dylan said after Pedro got baptized he stood up and gave his testimony and he started crying and the spirit was super strong.

A very memorable experience I am sure! 

October 3rd

Hello family!!!!
it has been quite a week haha. lets see Monday we were gonna go to the zoo, BUT no one wanted to go lol. kinda lame but ya, we just ended up chillin in the room again. Tuesday was district meeting. i taught a way how to read the scriptures better and how to teach them better. it was really cool, hope it helps the zone alot. Wednesday i had divisions with elder vizcarra, haha love that kid. um lets see Thursday was a normal day had some really cool lessons. Friday we had the baptism of Pedro.
i cant remember if i told you but hes and old guy who had a stroke, but he looks just like grandpa Paolacci! me and biliter baptized him together, it was a really cool experience. after he got baptized when he stood up and gave his testimony he started crying and the spirit was super strong. Saturday we were gonna have another baptism but there were a couple problems so we have to do it this Saturday. and well Saturday session of conference was awesome! really enjoyed (like everyone I'm sure) a talk by Holland in the priesthood sesh. really gave it to us. but i know that's gonna help alot of young men to stay strong.
Sunday sesh was awesome too. the chapel was packed and we had an investigator show up like an hour early. i know it sounds weird but my favorite talk Sunday was the talk by the young women's president sister Elaine Dalton, not gonna help me right now but when i have a family its gonna help a ton (don't laugh).
so ya it was a great week, and this week should be even better! we got
3 baptisms lined up for Saturday. a girl named Christina (the one who was gonna get baptized last Saturday), another named Carolina, and the girl i told you about, Milagros! Milagros is seriously sooooo awesome, i feel the spirit strong with her. shes the one that came to conference like an hour early. she told us yesterday that she wanted to get baptized and wanted to do it as soon as possible, haha she was like, can i do it right now? shes awesome along with the other two girls for this Saturday.
it was really cool watching conference again knowing that you guys are watching the same thing, really makes me super happy! i hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. wanna hear something crazy, only one conference left! that felt so weird thinking about it.
coy gets home in like a month, I surely don't wanna talk about that. I'm seriously loving the mission, having alot of fun and learning a ton! don't want to think about it being over half over.
i love you guys so much!
like you say mom STUDY the Book of Mormon, I'm studying it 1 chapter a day with that study guide you sent me, and its teaching me SOOOO much. i truly believe that the heavens will open and the blessings will pour out as we faithfully study.
have a great week - i love you all - ELDER PAOLACCI!

Temple Day

This picture is the first Zone Counsel with the new mission president

HOLLLLLLLAAAA!
well hows everything going? this week went by sooooo fast. it seriously feels like i was writing you guys yesterday. BUT did have quite a packed week, i guess thats why it went so fast.
wellll lets seeeee. monday was pday, we just chilled in the room, talked and took a nap. Tuesday was interviews with president, so we were in the chapel from 8am to 3pm and we didnt even get to have our interviews. it was also a super stressful day, cause well, some of the missionaries in my zone are a handful. haha so stressful i popped out some gray hairs! i flipped out when i saw them, my comp plucked them out, there were like 3 or 4. uh oh! haha wednesday we had our multi zone conference with all the zones in lima, so i saw rider and norris!
and guess where norris is! MANCHAY! hes in the same area i was in, and his pension is hna blanca. im super jealous. she is the best. but ya the conference was awesome to say the least, learned alot AND we had lasagna. Um thursday we had splits with the assistants, it was quite interesting. i stayed in the office and worked and biliter went to our area. so ya thursday morning i went with one assistant and president to do interviews in another zone....CAMPOY! so i was chillin with rider for like 6 hours, being a zl in lima also has its advantages haha. hmm so friday was normal day of work, and in the night we had a woop woop BAPTISM! two little girls whose parents are already members got baptized, it was pretty easy but it was way cool, the little girls are way cute as you can see in the pics. 

saturday, normal missionary work. sunday we had church and we had to give talks. i probably gave my favorite talk of my mission. i talked about how alot of the time we do damage to our spirits without noticing, how we slowly allow stuff to creap in and damage our spirit, somtimes without even knowing. i shared my story about when i crashed on my bike really bad and everyone was laughing, it was a way cool, maybe ill send it to you guys in a letter. it was an awesome talk. sunday night we had a meeting with all the members and president, the missionaries sang called to serve with pres. and hna ardila, it was way spiritual. I am loving being in lima and having the opportunity to teach and spend time with president. it was an incredible evening and i am so happy i got to be a part of it. so ya that was my week! today i think we are going to some zoo, not sure yet. haha


um so ya in our area we are having alot of success. me and my comp are getting along really well. hes awesome, we are already best friends. having alot of fun. OH another crazy thing happened the other night! so here in peru theres two huge soccer rivals like yankees - red sox deal. and things get kinda crazy when these games come around. and well the other night we were walking down the main street here and two kids started fighting, and stopped us right in our tracks (fyi we cant split up fights in our mish - it can get way too dangerous). and well, things got outta hand. like 6 more guys jumped in and it turned into a full on brawl.
one guy even had drumsticks beating on people. it was crazy, we wanted to help break it up but its super dangerous so we just had to watch, until we could get by.
alot of guys got hurt but we walked away before the police came or anything. it was crazy and we felt really bad for those kids. we started talking about how thankful we were for having the gospel in our life and not being part of that kind of stuff. it is a crazy world out there.

um so here i got some pre pday pics

but i gotta go! and elder vizcarra says hi! send me the sports update and dont worry im working like crazy! loving my mission and the people i am serving. no denying this is the best 2 years ever. keep being awesome my awesome family.
love Elder Paolacci

Transfered, Zone Vitarte

Here is Dylan's letter from last week (9-19-11)  SInce I was gone I did not get it posted.


WELLLLLLLL.......
got chizanged! i am now in the zone vitarte, area vitarte. BUT crazy twist..ready? im with a gringo! my comp is elder biliter. haha hes awesome. we have sooooooooo much in common, its scary lol. we love the same music, like all the same music its crazy. its gonna be an awesome change.
well in my zone there are a few old buddies, haha elder vizcarra is in my zone, hes training as a DL, and well surprise! hna matheison is in my zone. but ya its a great zone, got alot of good missionaries, just gotta work a little with em. my area is AWESOME! i love it. where we live is a pretty nice part of town, well compared to where ive been, but we also got some manchay action going on on the other side of our area. i love it.
Like my second day here, so thursday, we were riding a bus and we were almost at our stop and this young girl asked if we were the elders, and then she started sayingh the missionaries taught her before in another part of peru but she never got baptized or anything. we took out another appointment for another day and we were way pumped, she had an amazing spirit about her. and well, when we went and taught her i seriously had one of the most memorable lessons of my mission. she is gonna be the strongest convert of my mission, i am sure of it. im way excited.
we also had a baptism friday! haha not really my convert but i already loved the kid. the baptism was kinda tricky because when we showed up someone had emptied the font and well...the water dosent fill up as fast here as in the states. so what we did was turn on the faucet to the font and left it running, and we also got a mop bucket and filled it up in the janitors closet and poured it in the font, about 50 times! haha it was crazy, but it worked and we had an awesome baptism.

haha oh goodness, had a pretty funny little incidence with a drunk guy thursday night. we were about to go to the room and some drunk guy called us over, he started saying he really respected us for walking so much and being diligent. he also said that he was a doctor and would operate on the people we were teaching for free (that was kinda sketchy), but the funny part is that he insisted on buying us soda, we were saying nah its all good but he kept insisting, even to the point that he was getting mad at us. so we were like ya fine then and he ended up buying a liter of soda for each of us and like 10 packets of ritz crackers. after everything it was like 10 buck worth, which is alot here haha. it was way funny. we walked into our room saying, what just happened? haha well my pension here is AMAZING! im way excited for her to be my pension, shes way loving and will do anything we need. shes also amazing at making pancakes which is like a ten point bonus. shes got 3 kids, a kid who returned from the mission a year ago, a 10 year old girl, and a 6 year old boy. i love them.
well im glad you got the cd and letters, if you could just send the letters for me i would love you, i also have more here, it was just gonna cost alot more if the package weighed any more. hope you like the pics well have a great time visitng those places, im way jealous. tell grandma im super proud of her and shes doing the right thing.
love you guys so much! keep reading your scriptures and saying your prayers and just lovin each other. those are the things that will keep our family strong. i am so grateful for this gospel and for all the many blessings it has brought to my life and the blessings i see that it brings to the lives of others. i love my family. you are awesome.
Elder Paolacci
oh and theres a pic of my eccos, they are falling apart on the bottom, i dont know where you bought them but maybe you could take the photo there and maybe they have a warranty. i heard alot of places have warranties on them.

ps . . . hey can anyone send me a sports report. just something about the dbacks, packers and ASU - I would totally appreciate it.
pss ...oh and hey mom idk if you already sent my package but if not i would love a football! me and my comp wanna play catch for excercise in the morning.
psss. . . . oh and haha hope you like this pic. this orange vest is our zone gift we made, its awesome

hey momma gott go, but i love you and a new goal i made is write better emails to you guys. sorry ive been kinda slacking. love you guys! tell karleigh coleton logan dad marissa morgan the dahls all of our cousins, aunts, uncles, the priests - eh just everyone, i say hi and i love them!

FAMILY !!!

FAMILY!!!!
hows everything going! Ahh what a week haha. this week we had our zl counsel so that was cool, got to see all my buddies again. we spent Tuesday morning in the temple with president and then had zl counsel. how blessed i am to serve under such amazing mission presidents. it was an awesome day, president ardila reminded us of the importance of doing things daily to be a better missionary (which over all makes us a better person) after the zl counsel we headed to tarma to do a zone meeting thursday. and thursday i stayed in tarma and had divisions with ELDER CAPPS, haha i love that kid. got back to my area and well we have been working like normal in our area since then. and well this is my last days working in my area....changes are wednesday and well im going to LIMA. im not sure what zone but they told me im going to lima, so wednesday will be my last day in la oroya. its really been a growing experience being here. its really one of the toughest areas in the mission and i cant believe i made it 3 changes here. i have learned a ton. i have really learned how to depend on the lord for strength and guidance. and im definitely gonna need that in lima. apparently its a little harder as zone leader in lima because the zones are bigger but im sure ill be fine.
so hows everything going with the family?! thats so cool that grandma reports to the mtc today! is her mission 3 years or how long? and is she gonna have the same comp the whole time? im just interested, i have no idea.
hows school going for the kids? and hows your job going mom?
As far as the package this week . . . hmm lets see what coukld you send for me... the smores pop tarts would be nice, that keychain if you can find it, i liked the airheads and skittles and beef jerky and peanut butter? a good toothbrush, im tearing through those things here. a nice sports update maybe from someone at home and maybe those frootie things or the fruit flavored tootsie rolls and regular tootsie rolls and idk whatever you can think of. oh and last thursday i finally sent the package of photos and letters so keep your eye out well yesterday was a weird day. i looked at my watch and realized i had completed 13 months wooohoo! i need time to slow down. but then i realized it was september 11th, i cant believe its been 10 years, i still remember that morning when it all happened. so i spent alot of the day reflecting about that.well im gonna write president right now. and ill send to you when im done
well family if there is anything i can emphasize it is do all you can to stay close to the lord. just like president shared with us in our meeting this week. we need to stay fortified and strong and we can do that by reading our scriptures and praying daily. dont ever get to complacent that you forget to feast daily on the teachings of the gospel. it will protect you and keep you strong. it will keep the advesary away. thank you for being such an amazing family. i just want you all to know how much i love and appreciate you and I may not have shared that with as often as I wish, but i want you to know that i do. continue to do the things the lord has asked you to do and i promise you he will pour out the blessings upon you. i am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. thank you for all your love and support and i will talk with you next week from LIMA.
love elder paolacci