Monday, August 25, 2014

Eternal Decisions

Monday, August 25 2014

Hellooooo Family!!

First and foremost I want to wish the best man in the whole wide world HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I LOVE YOU DADDY!!! I´ll have my own little party for you this week :) I hope you have a happy happy birthday and if you listen really close, I´ll be singing Happy Birthday as loud as I can tomorrow morning at 7 after my exercises :) Be listening buddy old pal!! I love you!!!

Well the work in Zapata is finally moving a long...por fin!!! We have found quite a few promising investigators who have said yes to the baptism invitation...so we have high hopes for this area!! Everyday we seem to see a tender mercy of the Lord.

A while ago we met a man named Luis who told us he was baptized about 20 years ago, but has been inactive for about 20 years. He was 8 years old and doesn´t remember much of anything about the church. Luis is now 30 years old and 6 months ago, his 22 year old wife had triplets...yes triplets! And they are the cutest little things ever, but the poor mom is so tired! Luis is currently unemployed and has little money to pay for all the formula for his babies. The little money he has, he uses to drink, to drink away his stress, and his wife is just about ready to leave him. They are really struggling right now, but the best is that they have turned to Jesus Christ for help. We passed their house one day, not planning on visiting them, but his wife came running up to us and asked us what time church started on Sunday and practically shook the answer right out of me. They are both desperate for change, they love each other and want to strengthen their family for their three daughters. He is making the best decision of his life right now. He is making an eternal decision, although he doesn´t quite understand that yet. I don´t think he realizes how big of an impact the Atonement of Christ can have on his life. The changes it will bring to his family. It can only bring happiness. They may have to struggle, but once the storm has passed, they will only know happiness. I was struck by the love of this father for his baby girls and wife. For the faith this couple has to turn to Christ to be healed. We are coming to love this family, and I love their babies...I can´t hold them, but ah they are the sweetest things ever! And it was such a beautiful sight to see them in the chapel this last Sunday. Can I just say again, that Christ lives!!!!! His atonement is real and his love can heal all. I love him with all of my heart and am coming to know him better than I have ever known him. I know that if we put him first in all of our decisions and more importantly in our eternal decisions, we will receive eternal life.

I love each and every one of you and hope you all know how much your Savior loves you. I hope you can use the Atonement in your lives just a little bit more this week. I love you all more than I can write and I love you more this week Dad :) Stay strong and keep the faith!

with so much love,
Hermana Pasley

Why Do We Fall?

Monday August 18

¡Hola Familia!

I hope you are all doing well and that you´re all enjoying school!! Woohoo :) Thank you so much for your letters each and every week. They seem to be exactly what I need to hear, and always lift my spirits in the work! Thank you all so much for your love and support.

Well, remember how I said that last week Christ will give us success if we fully rely on him. I know have no doubt that its true!! We have found a lot of success in this last week- in more ways than one. First, me and my companion are finally starting to get along. After a long 2 months, we´ve both humbled ourselves enough to listen to one another and start working more united. With this unity, we are seeing more progress in our investigators, because the spirit is ten times stronger in the lessons right now. We can see the spirit working with them as we teach and testifying of the truthfulness of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Its a beautiful sight!! So we are excited to see that our investigators are starting to progress again!! This whole month we´ve been praying to meet someone that can be baptized this month, and our prayer was answered yesterday!! We were walking down the street that we have never taken before and a lady calls, "Hermanas Hermanas!!" we turned to see a woman waving us over to her truck. We looked at each other and thought we were mistaken for TJs (Jehovah's Witness) again, but NO! She said she´s been waiting for missionaries to pass by her house. Her daughter is 9 and still hasn´t been baptised and wants her daughter to be baptized in 2 weeks...WHAAAAT?? God listens to prayers!!

But I have the most amazing story that I want to share with you all. In this last week we received a referral by a recent convert. His name is Jorge and is 23 years old. He is currently paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident he suffered about 3 months ago. Jorge before was a very social popular boy, but he had a drinking problem and like to party hard. One night he was drunk and high to top it off, and fell from a 3 story balcony. Fractured his back and punctured his spinal chord. So now he is stuck in his bed, and unable to move. He is hurting, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. In our first lesson, he told us that before his accident, he didn´t believe in God, well more that he didn´t need God in his life. But now, he has realized how week he is and how strong God is and is looking for the truth. He has listened to the Catholics, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the 100 other churches they have in Mexico, but nothing seems to help him. But as he has listened to the story of Joseph Smith and felt the power of the priesthood as he received a blessing, he is hoping. He is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and says how grateful he is for his fall. Had it not been for his fall, he would never have met us, and never would have received his faith. Thats how amazing he is!! He is grateful for his fall! This got me thinking how grateful we should be for our trials we have. We have them because God knows we´re strong enough to stand right back up, brush the dirt off and come back even stronger. If we rely upon him, we can only become stronger. Falling is a good thing.


So as you all can see, Christ will give us success. We just have to rely on his timing, and wait with patience, hope and faith. I know that this is the Lord´s work and that he always has people prepared for us. We just have to rely on him to lead us to these hurting hearts. Sometimes we just have to fall down a few times to see how much God really does love us and how powerful the Atonement of Christ is. I love this work and feel the Lord´s hand in my life each and every day.

I love you all and hope that you all have a great week! I pray for you all each and everyday. Stay strong and keep the faith!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pasley


Me in front of a Mayan elf. He´s just the cutest!!

Monday, August 11, 2014

He Carries Me

Hello Hello Family!!

How are we all?? I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your summer! Do me a favor and spend a few extra minutes in the air conditioning...i miss that stuff like crazy!! I would kill to live one day in a house with air conditioning right now! Its been a scorcher this week! They keep saying it is going to rain, and the clouds come along with the humidity, but the rain never comes. So its been really humid and hot week. I´ve sweat A LOT...I am a Pasley after all :)

This week hasn´t been filled with anything earth shattering, but we´ve always been filled with little miracles each and everyday that help us keep going, even when we feel completely drained, physically or spiritually. It seems in the days when we are wanting to give up, we find a promising new contact or someone offers us water...ha that always lifts my spirits! But as we´ve walked the fiery roads of Zapata, we´ve come to know our Savior in greater depth and we are learning how very important it is to rely fully on him in this work. He is the one who carries my heavy back pack filled with unplaced Books of Mormon, he´s the one who helps me ignore the sweat dripping down my face, and he seems to place one foot in front of the other as we climb the many hills of Zapata. And as we reach the summit of the final hill, we are tired, but we find success. Not always the success we had hoped for, but we find success in something small, but beautiful. As I was studying the Book of Mormon I came across this scripture in Alma 26:

27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

This has been my scripture for the week. We have a hope for the work here in Zapata and we know that Christ will give us success. He won´t let his work fail. If we do all we can, he will lead us to the prepared souls of Zapata. This gospel isn´t always easy, but its worth it and I am finding more joy in this work as I am coming to know my Savior in greater depth. I know I am nothing as a missionary without the strength of Christ. I know my Savior lives and I know he will lift whatever load you are carrying if you let him. I am truly starting to understand the purpose of the Atonement and how essential it is in this life. Nothing is impossible with Christ! I hope each and everyone one of you this week can rely on Christ just a little bit more, and can see how much better you feel. Christ lives!!

I hope you all have an amazing week and hope you stay cool!! Give everyone a big hug. I hope you all know how much I love you and how much I appreciate your prayers and support. Stay strong and keep the faith!! xoxo

cuĂ­dense mucho,
Hermana Pasley


Photo: One of our investigators that is 9 has ADHD I´m pretty sure and its hard to keep her interested. So one day I asked her to draw how she thinks God looks. Another little miracle. Kids are the sweetest!!

Monday, August 4, 2014

Wanted: Prayers for Zapata

Family,

Woo, another week come and gone. Time just keeps flying by in the mission! No matter how hot the day gets, I seem to find myself loving this work and the good people in Zapata.

I want to thank everyone for their letters this week. They were all exactly what I needed to hear. They all had a ringing tone of how we can touch the lives of people for good. This week my prayers have been filled with this hope. That I can somehow touch the hearts of these people in Zapata. This area is literally falling apart in front of our own eyes and we´re not really sure what to do. Let me give you some background.

The church has only been in Zapata for about 25 years or so. For many years, the few members of about 20 met in a humble house made of cement and sheet metal. This house of prayer was filled with the love of Christ, as the few members helped one another grow in the faith. And the number of baptisms soared. The amount soon grew big enough that the church built a chapel about 7 years ago. With the new chapel, came new leaders and changes. Many did not like these changes and soon began hurtful words and gossip. As the gossip spread, many took it hard. Slowly people stopped participating in the activities and soon, stopped coming to church. The number of less actives, and in-actives is ridiculous! At the beginning, the leaders did nothing. They watched their few friends in the gospel leave and did nothing to help them until it was too late. Now fast forward 7 years to the fourth of August 2014. There are 8 missionaries currently serving in this little Branch and the assistance at Sacrament has gone from 130 to 70...yeah. We now are having to go from house to house of these in-actives, only to have them tell us they have no intention of coming back and don´t want us to waste their time. As missionaries in Mexico, this is more than unusual. EVERYONE lets us into their house. They may have no intention of getting baptized, but everyone will give us an ear. So this has kind of thrown us off our game. It has become more and more frustrating as we are not receiving help from the leaders in this ward, and this week was a week where there were times where I was pleading with my Heavenly Father to help me find something to say to these lost souls. Something to help them remember how they felt when they first entered the House of Prayer, something to help them remember that they made a promise with our Heavenly Father, not with these members. So far we haven´t seen much success, but this last week we finally received a little support from the leaders and visits are being made. So please keep Zapata in your prayers, this little town needs them!

Blessing of the week: We ran into a group of deaf people in the streets the other day. Mexican sign language is a little different from American, but a lot of the signs are the same, and guess what?? I could communicate with them. it was another tender mercy of the lord. I couldn´t speak it very well as I´ve forgotten much, but I could understand what they were saying to me and it felt so awesome to talk to these people! Woo I love my mission.

Thank you everyone for your encouraging and inspiring words this week. I really needed them and have felt the love of my Heavenly Father and know he is always watching over me. I love you all and hope you are all doing just great!! xoxo

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pasley