Thursday, January 23, 2014

Of long Trips and Those That are Sick

Hi Family!!


So it's been another crazy week!! Everyone in our district is getting sick! But don't you even worry, I'm still going strong, I'm the only one who hasn't gotten sick yet (knock on wood)! Keep praying that I can stay healthy :)


So Thursday I left to Vegas at 4:00 in the morning and arrived in Vegas about 9:30. We were greeted by a really grouchy old man...and I mean that in a christlike way of course! And he yelled at all 10 of us to hurry to the van and that when we stopped at Del Taco for lunch we had only 10 minutes to buy what we needed until dinner! Just what everyone needs to make them feel great and nourished for the whole day :) So we stop at some sketchy Del Taco for exactly 10 minutes, then hurry to the UNLV institute building. I'm still trying to figure out why we were in such a hurry, because we were then lucky enough to be lectured about Mexico and their food for literally THREE hours. We sat in the conference room for THREE hours about Mexican food. It was good information, but wasn't really necessary to my salvation. So after those quick three hours we finally went to the consulate and it literally took a total of 20 minutes for all ten of us to get our finger prints scanned and pictures taken. But good news I should have a temporary visa this week and then hopefully that will give my real visa enough time to come through. Then the nice cheery old man dropped us off at the airport and we waited for another 4 hours or so and got home close to 11 that night. Yes the trip was long, and at times seemed pointless, but I would do it again so that I can have the chance to bring the gospel to the people of Mexico! I would sit through a 10 hour lecture on the food of Mexico if that's what it took to go meet the loving people of Mexico! As I was waiting to go home, I struck up a conversation with a man sitting next to me. His name was Sal and he was from Australia. He was such a nice man and couldn't believe that a "pretty sheila" like me would leave for 18 months to teach about Christ and actually pay for it. We talked a lot about the gospel and though he made it clear he was VERY Roman Catholic, I hope he could feel of the spirit that was there as I shared my reasons for going on a mission and maybe one day the missionaries in Australia can help soften his heart! So I truly am thankful for that trip, for the people I met and for the opportunity I have to go on this mission to Mexico!


So with that said, I come back and find our Hermana Doing has been in the hospital all day...I leave and everything just falls apart!! Apparently her gallbladder isn't functioning properly so she is having really bad stomach pains. So she went in for a test today and we're praying that she won't have to get it removed. If she does, it apparently is a quick recovery so she won't have to go home. But we're praying that she will be able to come back to complete help! Then last night Hermana Jensen started throwing up and Hermana Houmand felt like she was going to throw up, so our district is...struggling, but we still are trying to stay positive and not spread our germs! So say a prayer that our district can be healthy again!!


I'm sorry I don't have a lot of time to email this week cause I have to go take my shift to watch Hermana Jensen so other Hermanas can come email. But we were so lucky to have Rosemary Wixom come talk to us for Relief Society and Sherri Dew came and talked to us for devotional. They were so so awesome! I want all of you to just watch one talk that Sherri Dew based her talk on. If it does't make you want to become better...I don't know what will!! I love my Savior so much! I know that he loves you all so much and if you but ask, he will be there to help you to become what he knows you can be!! Love you all...seriously watch this talk, it will change your life!! xoxo


www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng


Con amor,
Hermana Pasley


I won our bubble blowing contest....word!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Las Vegas Surprise

Last night Julie received a text from a number she did not recognize. It said "I am with your missionary daughter in the airport. She looks well, happy and healthy". Attached was also a picture of Emma with 2 other sister missionaries. Emma had to travel to Las Vegas to meet with the Mexican Consulate about her visa. We don't yet know the outcome of that visit, but we are grateful for the kindness of this stranger to send along this picture. It was a tender mercy to our family.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Simplicity

In Emma's email this week we get to hear her first "adventure" with a companion. She also sent along a couple of pictures with her favorite teachers from the MTC, Brother Wolfe and Sister Kitto.

Family!!!


How are we all?? This week has been a pretty good week at the MTC! So first things first, I got a letter yesterday and apparently I need to go personally meet with the Mexican Consulate tomorrow, so I'm flying to Vegas for the day around 8 tomorrow morning. So for whatever reason I have to go meet with the consulate, pray that I can get my visa and whatever is happening will work itself out! But I get to actually step off the grounds of the MTC for a day, so I'm pretty excited to get some new fresh air!!


This week has been an...adventure to say the least. So Monday morning Hermana Thomas wakes up and she is super dizzy, like couldn't even walk in a straight line dizzy. So me and Hermana Jensen practically carried her to the doctor's on campus. But try to picture this, Hermana Thomas is 5' 9, and I'm 5'2 and I'm trying to practically carry her...ha it was awful! It was like the scene from Hitch when he's drunk on Benadryl and she's having to drag him home...that was my life Monday morning and the sidewalks were icy to just add to the joy of that beautiful morning! Anyways, we get to the doctors on campus and they're closed so they tell us we have to go to main campus...are you kidding me? So me and Hermana Jensen drag poor loopy Hermana Thomas to the bus and carry her to main campus. Luckily we got her to the doctor's office without any injuries! But it took us 4 hours to finally get her into the doctors and the doctors to tell her to drink gatorade and sleep for a few hours. But good news, she's feeling a lot better and I'm not having to carry her anymore! Ha its a lot funnier now that I look back on it, but in that moment I was...not feeling so Christlike! So she sleeps the whole afternoon, then claims she wants to go teach our lesson that night, it was the most interesting lesson we've had so far. She was so loopy from the anti nausea pills they gave her, that she just kept saying random things and wouldn't really be speaking english or spanish, so I finally just told our investigator we would come back tomorrow...good thing that our investigators are already members!! So there's my fun little adventure for the day!


But yesterday, yesterday was one of those days that makes every trial on the mission worth it. Me and Hermana Thomas taught our best lesson yet to our "investigator" and I felt so good about it, finally!!! Then we had TRC where me and Hermana Thomas has the chance to teach a real investigator of the church. Her name is Ivette and she is seriously one of the most amazing people I have ever met! She's 24 and just moved here from Queens, NY with her friend who is mormon. She has had a pretty rough life, but she has such great hope in Christ. She did almost all of the talking the whole lesson, but by the end she said she just wanted to feel loved. So I asked her if she had prayed, she said she prayed once or twice with her friend but she had never felt anything when she prayed. In that moment, I felt like I should just bear my testimony about prayer. In my mind I kept thinking for a deeper piece of doctrine to try to explain to her how amazing prayer is, but my mind kept going back to my testimony. So I mustered up all the courage I could find and just bore a simple testimony of how I know God loves her and how I have felt his love in my life as I have gotten on my knees and asked. I shared how alone I had felt during my time at SUU, and as I prayed one night, I could literally feel God's love overcome my body and for that brief moment, I felt more love than I ever had before. As I shared this with her, her eyes filled up with tears and she told me that she has been doing TRC for 3 weeks and this was the first time she has felt something. My simple testimony helped her to feel the spirit? I was so grateful for the spirit in that moment! I finally felt I had touched the heart of someone, I had finally felt this overcoming feeling of love for this whole gospel! I love Ivette so much and I want so badly for her to find happiness in this life! And I know exactly what can make her happy!! I can't wait to teach more investigators like her, and feel this love that I have for Ivette! Missionary work is so so amazing!!! But the goodness doesn't even end there! As we went to Tuesday devotional, guess who's speaking? David A. Bednar AGAIN!! How lucky am I?? He decided to answer more of the questions he had gotten on Christmas, and I think this one was better than the first! We talked from everything to his testimony of the Book of Mormon (which was one of the most powerful things I have ever heard!) to a women's role in this life! But there was one single sentence that has stayed with me since last night. One of the questions was how do we receive miracles in the mission field. His advice was "Pray to see the simple miracles everyday".


Simple miracles. That was exactly what I was needing to hear in that moment. In our church's culture, we are made to believe that we will only receive huge undeniable miracles, but God is a God of miracles and he is performing them all around us everyday! So instead of just waiting to all of the sudden be fluent in Spanish or all of the sudden become an amazing teacher, I need to stop, take a breath, and look around me. How many miracles do I have in my life? How many miracles do you have in your life? Sister Bednar told us that in order to see these miracles and feel God's love for us we must have ears to hear God's love, eyes to see his blessings, feet to follow in Christ's footsteps, a heart to understand, and pray to understand. So I encourage you to all stop everyday for just a few minutes and look at all the miracles that are happening around you everyday, because I promise that there are hundreds all around you! Once you find those miracles, there is no denying the truthfulness of this Gospel!!! I love you all and pray for you every night!! I hope you have a great week!! xoxo


Con amor,
Hermana Pasley





Thursday, January 9, 2014

Go To Heaven!

We got a pleasant surprise this week as Emma's P-Day changed from Saturday to Wednesday. She is still doing great.

Hola!!


Surprise...my P-day is on Wednesday now!! :) How are you all doing? It is snowing like crazy today...let's just say I can't wait to get to warm Mexico! But I'm halfway done with the MTC...how crazy is that??It hasn't been too long since I've emailed you, but there is always something amazing that I can tell you about!


The more in tune I become with the spirit, the easier it's becoming to recognize it. And as I listen to it, everything seems to run together and fit perfectly into the lessons we have for the week. As I prayerfully study, the topics I choose seem to run accordingly to the lessons which are taught. This week we have had a running theme of following the spirit and vision.


I first want to talk about vision. What is vision? What I've come to know is that vision is seeing the bigger picture. Much like in soccer, if you don't have a vision of the field, how do you know where you're going and what you need to accomplish. When I would play center mid or any position for that matter, if I didn't take the time to become aware of my surroundings and see the bigger picture, I would lose the ball or I could have always made a much better pass which could have potentially lead to a goal. It's the same in life and on my mission. If you don't see the bigger picture, how do you know where you're going? What are you striving to become, what kind of goal scoring opportunities are you giving up? We were told that if we don't have vision, we lose potential. I 100% agree with that! How can we become what we have the potential to become if we don't even know what our potential is? How can we score, if we have no idea where the goal is? So to see the bigger picture of what and who we could become, we answered some questions pertaining to what kind of missionary we want to be when we come home. After realizing what kind of missionary I want to be, I realized I had A LOT of work to do. But I know that through Christ I can become the best missionary that I know that I can be! What is the big picture...Christ! Absolutely 100% Christ. My mission purpose is to bring others unto Christ, and as a missionary I have the responsibility to make others see the big picture also. Now that I've caught the vision, I need to share the vision. So I encourage everyone to sit down and think of your goals in life and what you need to do to score, to catch the vision!


An awesome experience I want to share. I've been studying how to recognize the spirit quite a lot this week and I have an awesome experience to go along with that. One of our teachers Hermana Hunter had us watch a clip from The District. He said as you ask your investigators questions, you need to "go to heaven". What that means is don't ask the questions you want to ask, ask what God wants you to ask them. Even if you have to sit there for a few minutes, wait to ask the inspired question. As I sat in front of Hermana Thomas (who was being an investigator) I prayed that I could somehow have an inspired question pop into my head. I was a little skeptical at first...but IT WORKED!! As I sat there for what felt like forever a question slowly leaked into my head and as I asked it the spirit was so strong! Hermana Thomas sat and looked at me for a minute, then told me that she could feel that that was an inspired question, and that spirit would strengthen anyones testimony. How awesome and inspired is missionary work? Anytime you are struggling with anything, go to heaven. Who knows what you or others need more than God? Go to Heaven!!!


This week has also been so sad, we had to say goodbye to 2 of our favorite teachers! Hermano Urquehart and Hermanlo Wolfe. It was so hard to say goodbye after everything they have done for us, but we can't keep them forever. We were so lucky to get Hermano Wolfe for his last lesson and after the lesson our whole zone came together and sang Nearer my God to Thee. The spirit was so strong and we were all holding back tears, but those are moments that you never want to forget. In that moment I could feel the love of God so strong and I didn't want that moment to end. But as I trek on, I realize I get moments like that almost every single day. I am so lucky to be where I am and to meet that people that have touched my heart so much! I know this church is true, I know that God lives and the Jesus Christ lives. I know that without Christ I could not be here doing the things I'm doing. I love my Savior with all of my heart! And I love all you so much too:) Have a great week!! xoxo


Con amor,
Hermana Pasley

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Happy New Year!

Emma's first letter of 2014. No photos this week, but a great letter!

Happy New Year everyone!! Can you even believe it's 2014?? So crazy!! I hope you all had a fun holiday! Christmas looked so fun :) I hope you all have a year filled with love for your fellow men and for our Savior.


So as I was looking through the emails, the whole FIRE thing caught my attention!! What the crazy, I wish I would have known sooner. Kate you are so strong to still be so positive about everything. The fact that the only thing left was the picture of Christ is so amazing! That is such a testament that this work is true! So Kate I wish you luck with everything and hope things can become normal again! I love you :)


Our New Years was so fun! Hermana Houmand's parents sent us sparkly crowns and we toasted to the New Year with a bottle of sparkling cider! But don't even worry we went to bed at 10:30 because exact obedience brings miracles! But the best part was we had a devotional by Stanley G Ellis from the seventy and he talked to us about voluntary repentance and what we can do to become to be the "best" in 2014.


As I've been pondering my life and what I want to change, it's been different this time. My goals have changed from what must I do to be better to what does God need me to do to be better. This week has been challenging and sadly I've become pretty discouraged at times. But when we feel our lowest Jesus Christ is always there to lift us back up. And I have experienced that miracle first hand this week.


As the week progressed I was slowly becoming more and more frustrated with my spanish. I felt like I was working hard and studying the best I possible could, yet when I got in lessons I felt loss, which got me discouraged which obviously drives away the spirit. And I let that discouragement effect me spiritually and I was pretty down on myself. But God works in mysterious ways. As I felt like I was falling Christ came in and caught me with 2 amazing lessons this week. What would I do without my teachers here in the MTC? I am so grateful for them! Thursday night we were taught by Hermano Wolfe again, and through him the spirit was able to teach us that we are Daughters of God. He had us sing I am a Child of God then sit and think about what that meant to us. As I was thinking of the the time in Primary when I was doing singing time and we all decided to sing I am a Child of God in a whisper, I remembered the feeling that was in that room as 30 kids sang those words softly and the spirit testified to me that we are all children of God. As I looked into all their little trusting faces, how could we not be? And as I thought back on that week, I had forgotten that, I had forgotten why I was here and who I was. And the week just gets better! Yesterday we had Hermana Kitto and she taught us about faith, hope and charity. Faith is the believe in God and Jesus Christ, hope is to believe in ourselves and charity is to believe in other people. So as I sat down for PSC last night I thought I would study these two subjects and figure out my goal for this golden year of mine. And I decided on one word which will help make me the best missionary that God wants me to be. Believe. To not only believe in Jesus Christ but to believe in myself and in others. I had felt that I had lost confidence in myself this week, so I first studied hope and in my Preach My Gospel it says under hope, “The unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God." And in that moment I knew without a doubt that I am a Daughter of God and that through him I can become the missionary I can be, I just had to realize my identity. I knew that, I just had to dig deep down into my soul to find it once again. I had finally regained confidence in myself. I literally felt the discouragement and doubt in myself drain. The MTC has made my faith in Jesus Christ grow enormous but faith is not just to believe, it is a principle of action. So I committed myself to out my faith into action and what better way than to put all my effort into my mission. Then the talk from Thomas S. Monson called Living the Abundant Life came to my mind and I want to share a few clips from his talk with you. To have the abundant life is as easy as ABC. A is for Attitude, we must do our best, give everything our all and then BE HAPPY. B is for Believe, believe in yourself, others and in the gospel principles. "You can achieve what you believe you can." C if for Courage, " Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one’s coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve.Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.” I know that trying to learn spanish I am going to have to make a million efforts, but I must have the courage to try again tomorrow. There are people waiting for me and how could I be so selfish as to stop the gospel from changing their lives as it has mine. I continued to study and I realized that if hope was knowing I am a child of God then charity is knowing that others are children of God. As I studied more I could feel of God's love and I could feel my heart swelling with his love for all of his children. Charity is in our divine nature, but we must work towards obtaining that gift! So as I go forward this year, I am looking with a forward with a vision of hope and a knowledge of who I am. I am bearing the Savior's name over my heart confidently because I know what his gospel can do for God's children. How grateful I am for this knowledge and for the peace it brings into my life. I love you all and wish you a Happy New Years!


Con amor,
Hermana Pasley


P.S. Jill, I can feel Drew's strength everyday as I pray, I can feel him cheering me on!