Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Quite a Bit of Opposition, in Quite a Bit of Things

Hi Fam!!

Well, this week has been a week of ups and downs. A week where I´ve learned that there is oppostion in all things. Let me explain myself:

These past few weeks have been vacation time for all the school kids, so of course EVERYONE goes out of town. So we walked and walked and walked and walked (just like the pioneer children) only to find no one home. The sun has been really hot and bien fuerte I tell you what!! So one day I was just walkin´ feelin´all sorry for myself, and I thought to myself, "You know what Hermana Pasley?? You can sit here and complain or you can be a man and go contact someone, that always seems to make you happy." So I walked a little bit, mulling over these wonderful words I had just heard. And you know what I did?? I contacted someone. And do you know what they said? That were meeting with the missionaries before, but things didn´t work out for some reason or another and now would really like to meet with us again!! What?? And do you know what happened next? I couldn´t stop talking to people, and I contacted a million people and got 5 appointments for this week. It was a tender mercy from the Lord that day, and I felt so much happier!! And didn´t even notice that my skin was being fried. But you know what? I didn´t even care when I saw that tomato staring back at me in the mirror because I was so HAPPY!!!! Man, I should listen to myself more often...actually I´m pretty sure it was the spirit. How glad I was that I listened to that voice that led me to these precious souls of our Heavenly Father!

Also, we´re still working with Olga and Marino to get married, and yesterday we heard faint wedding bells in the distance, as the Branch finally started to work with us and helped us get everything in order for their wedding. So we were pumped the whole day and so excited to meet with them last night and tell them the good news!! They can FINALLY be baptized!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO....slap in the face. We arrive at their humble home only to find Marino drinking. My stomach literally sunk and my heart literally broke. He hasn´t drunk in months and how could he have relapsed now, when I had so much good news to tell him?? So I sat down feelin´ all sorry for myself again and thought to myself again, " You know what Hermana Pasley?? You can sit here and feel sorry for yourself, or you can look around you and notice that Olga is struggling with this too!" So I sat there and was amazed when I looked at Olga, but didn´t see Olga. I saw a sad, frustrated Olga instead of a happy, laughing Olga. So I again thanked that smart little voice in my head and sang some of her favorite hymns and then just sat and talked with her. Listening to her every frustration. As I sat and thought of what to share with her, it felt right to just listen. So we listened for an hour, said a prayer with her and prayed with all our might that Marino can fight his alcohol addiction. So we need your prayers everyone, that Marino can get his act together again, so that he may make the best decision of his life and be baptized into the only true and living church. We need your prayers!!!

So as you can see, there was quite a bit of opposition in quite a bit of things. But I haven´t lost hope. And have seen so many blessings each and everyday to remind me that I am not walking the roads of Zapata alone. No matter how hot the sun is, it won´t stop that Lord´s work. Sometimes I just have to take the heat, because I know its worth it. As I was studying I found great comfort in this verse in D&C 6:

36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

So I´m going forward doubting not and fearing not and not feeling sorry for myself :) Because I know through opposition, we receive happiness. Its the only way we could know the goodness of God. So I am thankful for these trials! I love you all a lot and am praying for you each and everyday! Stay strong and keep the faith!

Con amor,
Hermana Pasley

Friday, July 25, 2014

Palenque!!!

Family,

I don´t have a lot of time to write today because we got to go the RUINS!!!!! One of the coolest experiences of my life!! We are so blessed to have the owner of the ruins in our area and they just so happen to be members!! So we got a free private tour of the ruins and discounts on all of the souvenirs...uh yeah it was pretty awesome!! Of course there are things we can´t do and see because we´re missionaries, but none the less it was such an awesome experience.

We woke up at 5 this morning to be showered and ready by 6:30 to leave on the shuttle at 7 and got there around 8:30 and were there until about 3 that afternoon. The temples literally take your breath away and the carvings are some of the most beautiful pieces of art I´ve ever seen!!! I think we hiked up over 500 stairs, steep stairs, but they were so worth it!! When we got to the top of the prince´s temple, you could see EVERYTHING. You could see the beautiful ancient green trees, all the temples and the millions of people from all over the world. It was SO COOL!!!! We met people from all over Europe and Southern America, although no one really wanted to listen to message on their vacations, it was still so awesome to meet people from all over the world and at least introduce them to the church. I´m SO tired, but so happy right now. Being a member and knowing what we know about these people, made this visit just that much more cool, that much more special, and made my love for the Book of Mormon grow that much more.

Day by day and little by little we are spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the world and through the story and power of the words of these people, many are coming to know the truth that they have been searching for their whole lives, or may have not even known that this was what they were searching for. But millions in the world, including us, have now come to know that truthfulness of their words, and we are armed with the strength of its truth. From the words of Nephi:
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church ofthe Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.
We live in this great day and have the power of God with us. We know that we cannot fail if we stay true to these truths. So ponder and meditate upon the truths which are in the great Book of Mormon,and you will be filled with the great glory of God´s power.

I hope you all have a great!! I love you all so much!!! Stay strong and stay true!! xoxo

Hermana Pasley


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

Hello Family!!!

I´m alive and well in Mexico!! After my near death experience, I feel like a new woman...ha that was a little dramatic, but really I feel SO much better!! We´ve been taking it easy this weekend, and couldn´t go out much because it was raining like crazy and I couldn´t get wet, or there was a chance my fever would come back, so we haven´t worked too much, but I feel good and rejuvinated!! No worm, salmonella, or UTI can damper my spirits :) I´ll keep preaching even if I have to throw up a million times more!

This Saturday we had our conference with the President and Hermana Morales. The theme was on the Book of Mormon and how we could help our investigators know for themselves that it is true. He showed us this video first:

https://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#testimony-of-the-book-of-mormon

After just that video could you deny the Book of Mormon is true. But we broke off in groups and practiced teaching the first lesson. I was an investigator and had doubts that the Book of Mormon was true. Hna. Martinez and Hna. Triana taught me and my companion the first lesson, then asked us to kneel with them and we were going to ask God together if the Book of Mormon is true. So we kneeled down and Hna. Martinez offered the first prayer as an example for me. She asked if the Book of Mormon was true then paused for 15 seconds, then I was to follow her example. I then bowed my head and offered a simple prayer, asked if the Book of Mormon was true, then paused. In that pause I was overcome with a feeling that I can´t describe, it was the same feeling I felt the first time I got on my knees and asked if this book was true. Warmth started at the tip of my head and spread the tips of my toes and you just know, you have no doubts.THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE!!!!! I cannot deny the power of this book. In the mission I have found great knowledge, comfort, and revelation in this book. How grateful I am for this book and how I wish i would have read it more before the mission. It gives us great strength through its simple yet powerful words.

I know the Book of Mormon is true, with all of my heart I know it to be true. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church upon the face of the earth. I know all of this through the Book of Mormon. My invitation for you all this week (what kind of missionary would I be if I didn´t leave a "compromiso") ha I can´t remember the word in English to compromiso...look it up!! :) But my invitation to you all is to read the Book of Mormon, then get on your knees and ask your Heavenly Father if it is true. If you ask with true intent and faith, I know you will receive an answer and can have a testimony as strong as Joesph and Hyrum.

I love you all family and thank you all so much for your concern and prayers. I have felt the strength of my Savior more this week then ever and I know that part of this is through your prayers. I love you all and consider you all some of my greatest blessings! Love you xoxo

Love you more than I can write,

Hermana Pasley


Me and Hna. Rodriguez by the Steps to Heaven, we´re pretty sure than Nephites walked these steps :)

Of Worms, Salmonella and Other Yucky Things

A little late getting this posted. This is from last week.

We just received this anxiously awaited update today. It was a long night! Last night at 1:00 am Kyle received an email from Emma's mission president that said Emma was very sick, high fever and headaches and that she was traveling to Villahermosa to be hospitalized. That was it. So, needless to say, we prayed!!! We felt comforted that Emma would be ok but were still anxious to find out details. At 8:30 we received another email saying that the original diagnosis was wrong and that she had an infection due to salmonella, that could be easily treated with antibiotics. Big relief!

So, here is Emma's story:

Family,

I just wanted to write a quick email to say that I´m fine and you don´t need to worry. To be honest these past few days have been really rough and really long. And I don´t think I´ve ever felt so sick in my whole entire life! So here is the low down:

Wednesday I woke up with a really bad head ache and just felt, yuck! But we went to a doctor that night, because my fever wasn´t dropping and I felt so sick. But the doctors aren´t the best in Zapata and all they said was that I had a small infection in my throat and gave me a shot right in the bootie and sent me on my way. The next morning I woke up, but didn´t have to bad of a head ache and I felt better, so we went out and worked. Then the rest of the week, I felt a lot better and thought everything had past. WRONG!! Sunday I woke up with a really bad head ache, but shook it off and went to church, attended all the meetings, then left to go eat. By the time that we got to the food, I was struggling to even think my head was hurting so bad. And my fever spiked again to about 102, so we left and slept for the rest of the day. Then for 3 days straight I could do anything because my headache was so bad and eventually started throwing up and couldn´t keep anything down. And my fever wouldn´t go down. But I was also fighting my companion this whole time because she wouldn´t call anyone, didn´t want to tell anyone I was sick, she just kept telling me I´ll be fine. By Monday in the afternoon I was so sick of her not doing anything, I finally forced her to call our Mission Nurse and ask her what to do, because I literally thought I was going to die! Finally we get some advice from someone who knows what they´re doing and they were pretty ticked off at my companion. So we were back in buisness, but nothing was working. Yesterday, we went on splits with the other Mexican sister who lives with us, because she actually was the one who was really taking care of me. So we spent all day in the hospital running tests and trying to regulate my fever. After they ran tests they told me I had Typhoid...uh WHAT?? So we called Hermana Morales, and she said to wait until another doctor can give us another analysis, because she didn´t think I had typhoid. But we had to wait until this morning to get the results back from the other doctor. As we left the Hospital in Zapata they gave me pills to help with the fever, but as the day wore on, they weren´t doing anything, and by 10 o´clock that night my fever had spiked to 104 and they told my to triple my dosage of my medication and they were sending members to take me to Villa to get a good check up. I was a little sad that my own companion didn´t come with me but I ended up going with Hna Martinez, who has been such a blessing to me throughout this whole adventure, she has been my mom and has looked out for me. We arrived in Villa at about 12:30 that night and didn´t leave until about 4 in the morning. But I wasn´t scared the second we met up with Hermana Morales and the President. They helped me feel right at home and Hermana Morales was with me through every analysis they ran that night. Come to find out, I have worm in my stomach that is wrecking my insides and for that I had a really high fever and a really bad infection in my stomach. But it can all be taken care of with a few antibiotics. I also had a really bad urinary tract infection and that was adding to the stress in my body and due to all the stress in my body, it couldn´t fight the infections and my body was in really bad shape. But with my medicines I feel a lot better and I´m not throwing up anymore and luckily I don´t feel like death!! One good thing that came out of this, I lost a lot of weight so I´m looking fly and fit in Mexico :) I´ve been so blessed through out this whole week, I´ve been blessed with a positive attitude and haven´t been scared at all...well I was a little scared when they told me I had typhoid...but other than that I can say I´ve been blessed with a lot of comfort and a lot strength to make it through this trial. But I´m stronger after this and I have felt the love of God through out the week for many reasons, members visited me almost everyday and brought me fruit and juice, members gave me a blessing, members drove me to Villa, my companions serving me, and finding peace and comfort in the scriptures and in the words of latter day prophets, and finally being reunited with Hna. Reidelbach who has helped me laugh and remember the good times we´ve had, she´s been my saving grace through it all. Although I never want to go through this again, I´m thankful for the experience and for the love I have felt from many. Thank you for your concern and love, I don´t know what I would do without you all! The spirit is real, remember your experience last night, and don´t forget how real and powerful the spirit is and how much it can bless our lives. I´m so thankful for a family that and a home that has that beautiful spirit within its walls. I love you all and will keep you updated! Stay strong and keep the faith!!

With love,

Emma

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

The Spirit of God: Like a Fire is Burning

Family!!

How are we all?? I miss you all like crazy and hope you are all doing well :)

This week has been a roller coaster for sure!! We ended up having a baptism, but not with Olga and Marino, but with their 9 year old daughter. It was quite a process! The missionaries have been working with Olga and Marino for about 4 or 5 months and they´ve been progressing with almost everything except they´re not married, like everyone in the world, they´re not married!! And the problem here is that Olga doesn´t have any proof of who she is. She has no ID, no birth certificate, and she doesn´t remember what year she was born...so we´re kind of at a stand still until she can find some ID. So we have members in the ward that are going to work with them and help them, because to be honest, I don´t have any clue what they have to do and I don´t understand business talk in Spanish yet. So long story short, they didn´t get baptized. But the president told the whole mission that we could move our baptisms that we had set for July up to June 28 and promised us we could all have a baptism that week. Our whole district had at least 1 baptism set for the 28th and we had nothing. So after wallowing in self pity for a few minutes, we went to work! And we prayed like crazy to find someone that was ready to be baptized. And Rubi came into our mind. She´s been meeting with the missionaries for about 4 or 5 months also, but hasn´t got baptized because she is terrified of the water. But we prayed for direction in our lesson with her to help her not be scared of the water. And our prayers were answered!! We actually didn´t do anything, we actually didn´t even say anything. Olga took over and used her Mom powers and Rubi was pumped and ready to be baptized by the end. What a blessing it was!!!! As we walked down the hill I did a few heel clicks...ha but really, I was really excited!!! Our whole district was set with 7 baptisms for the 28th, and the promise of the president was fulfilled!

Like I said, our district had SEVEN baptisms! It was such a beautiful service. We´re in Mexico, so of course a few things didn´t turn out perfectly, but it was so beautiful and the spirit was there so strong! It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission so far! As we began the service us 8 missionaries in our district sang "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" and the spirit settled in and we all felt great! Then as they all lined up in the hall, it was so beautiful to see so many people in white! Then as we watched baptism after baptism, my heart was literally about to burst! It seemed to never end, and the spirit was there bearing witness of the happiness that Heavenly Father felt in that moment. We literally saw the doors of Heaven being opened to 7 people, and the spirit touched all of our hearts. As we waited for all of them to finish changing, we sang"The Spirit of God", and that song always invites a strong spirit, but this time I felt like the angels were singing with us. Every member sang with all their strength and hearing the little kids shout Hosanna in the chorus, my eyes filled with tears and I was so grateful to be in that room, in that very moment, with those very people! Nothing has ever felt more beautiful and I´ve never felt so much peace.

With that experience, it has motivated me to work harder each and everyday to find more people to bring into the waters of baptism, because it is only through that covenant that the doors of the celestial kingdom are opened. And nothing can bring the spirit like a baptism. Ahhhhhh if you can´t tell, I´m completely in love with this mission and missionary work!! I´m so grateful for this gospel in my life and I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is true!

I love you all and pray for you each and everyday! I hope you have a wonderful week! Love you all!!! xoxo

Con amor,
Hermana Pasley