Power

Hello Family!!

How are you all doing?? All is well in Villahermosa and looking up! The clouds are back but they aint rainin on my parade!

So this week has been rather uneventful. We had lots of really good lessons and a few new investigators which is good, we´re seeing baptisms for the month of February!! Woohoo! But we did have one lesson, that stood out to me more than others. We have a new investigator named Mari. She is 22 with a 9 month old baby and is home alone all day. We met her and she accepted us to come and visit her. But as I got there I realized that she was just wanting to be friends and have someone to gossip with. Which is good that she trusts us and sees us as friends but we´re here to do so much more than munch on cookies and drink Pozol (a nasty tabasco drink...if anyone offers you some say NO! I´d rather eat bugs than drink Pozol. Say no to Pozol kids). So as we went to her house I asked her why she let us in, what she was expecting out of our visits and she said she needs friends. But after that I honestly can´t tell you what I said, it was completely and 100% by the spirit. I don´t think I have ever been so guided in my teaching. But questions started spilling out of my mouth and we were able to find her needs and her fears and teach her the doctrine to ease the pain she was feeling. It really was an amazing experience and I was able to feel the power of my calling. The other day I read D&C 31 and reflected on times I had felt the power of my calling and it was an awesome experience to look back on the experiences I´ve had and at times it really isn´t Hermana Pasley walking the streets of Villahermosa and in that moment I wanted to stay there forever and never leave my mission. I am so grateful I am here.
 
I know this church is true and I know this is where I need to be.
 
I love you all and pray for you everyday! Stay strong and keep the faith!
 
Hermana Pasley
 
foto: me and hermana zuñiga

Here Comes the Sun!! (doo doo doo doo)

¡Muy buenas tardes familia!

Me gustaría escribir mi carta en español hoy...ha just kidding no one would understand me! So the sun has finally come out today...which is a total sappy metaphor for everything that has happened this week.

So ALL last week it did not stop raining...we literally didn't see the sun at all. And on the days it rained the most those days seemed to be the worst. We lost a lot of investigators this week and my companion got sick and the thick clouds hanging over head seemed to make it even worse. But what missionary hasn´t had a bad week...which human for that matter? But something that I have learned in the mission is that when you have a bad week...your best weeks come right after...so wooohooo here we go starting week 3 of this transfer. I´m stoked to see what it brings...I know its going to be great! Because the sun has FINALLY come out today and it seemed to brighten my whole day!

And to make your day just a little bit brighter:

6 He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;

7 Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.
Christ is the light that shines in our lives. He is in all and through all things. He is the only one that can bring the light into our lives, he has gone to the darkest places and is the only one who can help you find the light. Trust him. We just have to have the faith which brings us the hope for a better world..or week. So cheer up everyone! Here comes the sun doo doo doo doo. Its going to be the best week ever!!

I love you all and pray for you all everyday! Stay strong and keep the faith!


Hermana Pasley


P.S. The computer still wont read my memory...sorry no pics this week :(

I Know It, and I Know That God Knows It, and I Cannot Deny It

Dearest Family,

How are we all?? I hope you´re not as wet as we are here. It hasn't stopped raining in a week and even when its not raining, the sky starts misting and I feel like I´m constantly in a mist machine...its so weird! But I´m not complaining because its not hot! So I know you´re all dying to hear whose my new companion. Her name is Sister Zuñiga, and she´s from Obregón, Sonora. She barely turned 19 and I really feel like I´m caring for a baby. Shes not big into the getting down and dirty stuff, so shes having to do a little adjusting, but shes great and has a lot of energy for the work, so I´m excited to see what will happen this transfer.

So this week has been filled with ups and downs. Being a trainer is kind of hard at times, but so rewarding. I have been filled with the spirit this week that has led and guided me all week to have a pretty good week and to see a few investigators progress. But one experience has strengthened my testimony in the most unexpected way. On Saturday we went to go teach an investigator whose wife is a member. I LOVE his wife and I have come to love her husband as well...it was a long road coming to love him (I´ll explain later) but I had to humble myself to start loving him...it was rough. Anyways, he speaks really good English and loves to read in English, so I told him one day that I was going to get him a BOM in English and he said he would actually read it if I found him one...so of course I found him one and hes actually reading it!! Woo whoo!! So I was super excited to go and see how he was doing. So we get there and we start talking and bleh bleh bleh. His biggest doubt is the apostasy. He doesn´t believe that that could have happened along with many other doubts. Hes a really hard investigator with ridiculous doubts, but we´re working on it! So we´re there talking and I decided to show him the video The Great Apostasy. The story of how Wilford Woodruff found the church. It is such a powerful video, it makes me tear up every time I watch it! So I was stoked thinking that this was going to help him out a lot. We watch it and a spirit comes in so strong. And I know he felt something, I know he did. So the movie ends and I look at him and asked him how he felt during the movie. He looks at me and starts going off about how fabricated everything in the church is and goes completely crazy. He wouldn´t let me get a word in. I was so shocked, he was denying every single thing that I know he felt. So I kept trying to help answer his doubts but he just kept shooting me down. It made me so sad! I was starting to get so frustrated. I didn´t get mad, I didn´t yell. I got really sad, this man that I truly have come to love won´t except the one thing that can help him in this life. The only thing that can bring him happiness. So I sat and listened, and became more and more sad as time went on. He bashed and bashed and bashed on our doctrine and eventually I started to cry and couldn´t stop. I just started crying out of frustration. But as I started crying a scripture came to my mind JSH 1:25. And I remembered and the spirit testified to me that what I was teaching was true...so true, I cannot deny it. So I told him those words. I know it and I know that God knows it and I cannot deny it. I invited him to read the BOM and told him I loved him and that I hope he would soften his heart to accept the truth and we left. But the rest of the day and the next, the scripture lingered in my mind. I read it as this:

So it was with me. I had actually received an answer... and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had received my answer, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me,reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually felt? For I had received an answer; I know it, and I know that God knows it, and I cannot deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation.

I know that we are in the truth. That this is the ONLY true church upon the face of the earth. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God and the he did indeed restore the church of Jesus Christ. I know it and I know that God knows it and I cannot deny it.

I love you all and pray for you every day. Stay strong and keep the faith.

With so much love,

Hermana Pasley

P.S. you should watch this video. The actings not the best, but the spirit is :) It would make a goo d FHE video :) https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-07-003-the-great-apostasy?lang=eng

Faith over Fear

Hi!!

Well first of all...congrats Joe and Ben!! You two are the biggest studs I know! Well its raining gatos and perros outside, and I got soaked walking here and I´m sitting right next to the air conditioning unit and I can barely type right now I´m so cold(a weird feeling here in Villa), so sorry but its gonna be short!

So we found out transfers on Saturday and I´ll be staying here in Villahermosa. My companion left to Vera Cruz and I´ll be staying here. I don´t know who my companion is yet, I´ll be meeting her tomorrow to start her training. That took me by surprise. Its a lot of responsability, but I know I can do it! But I´m still pretty nervous! I just keep telling myself faith over fear, faith over fear. I need your prayers for this transfer!!

That has been my focus for this month. I want to have faith like Nephi. I don´t want to question or doubt. I want to have full and complete trust in my Savior. I want faith in Jesus Christ. I know that he has overcome all so that we may become strong. I know that through him, I will be able to magnify this calling I have been given to be a servant in his hands. Just like he gave Nephi the strength to get the plates, to build a ship, and to become a powerful leader and prophet. 

I love the quote by Thomas S. Monson, "Your future is as bright as your faith." I´m taking that and running with it! I hope this year we can all have the faith to become better people and over come our weaknesses. 

I love you and pray for you everyday! Stay strong and keep the faith!

Hermana Pasley

 

Carlos and Karla´s Baptism

 

Saying goodbye at the ADO(bus station) this morning!

 

 

 

No Time Like the Present

Hi Family!!

It was so good to see all of your smiling faces this last week and Kate´s too!! That made my day...if you couldn´t tell by my tears!! I was so happy to be able to talk to you, it seems sometimes like a dream or that I just watched you guys be my family in a movie, so it was good to be able to actually talk to you guys!! But before I say anything...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BENNY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!! I hope you have an awesome birthday, I can´t believe you are going to be turning 12!!! Wow!! You´re going to have the priesthood...you´re gonna be a pretty righteous dude!! You´re a stud!! I was Reading a talk the other day about the sacrament and she said that when a cute Little deacon stretches his hand out to give you the sacrament, they are just like Christ reaching his hands out to us, inviting us to repent and us the atonement in our lives. Pretty cool right? Ben, you´re going to be helping so many people! Think of what a priviledge it is for you to pass the sacrament. I´´m so excited for you!! You´ve always had a special sweet spirit...I just love ya Benny boo boo boo boo boo!! And Joe, Felicidades for your baptism, you are just starting on your journey and opening the doors to a Brand new life. You get to start again squeaky clean...lucky! I´m so proud of you  boys!! Know I´ll be there in spirit!! I love you!!

So this last Friday we had Carlos´baptism!!! It was SO good! His wife gave the coolest talk where she talked about the 5 steps of the góspel and put them out in front like stepping stones and had her husband and daughter take those steps together until they reached the temple and later eternal life. It was a really powerful talk to see them holding hands take the giant steps together. The service went flawless and the family left so happy! It was such a good baptism and I am so grateful that I had the chance to teach Carlos! I LOVE THE MISSION!!

So this next week is New Years!! I have been thinking lots of about this new year. Half of it I´ll be on my mission and the other half will be starting "real" life again...scary, don´treally want to think about that at all for now. But as a missionary I have realized there is a difference between "good" goals and "God´s" goals. I have so many things I would really like to do, so many things I could do better at, but I´ve had to stop myself and think of what it is that God wants from me, what he thinks I need to be better at this year. So I have thought long and hard and have come up with a few, that I hope will lead me to success this year. In Mexico they have a tradition where they set 12 goals, one for each month, then eat 12 grapes atmidnight and it supposedly will make it so you can complete each one of these goals. So I have set monthly goals and I am excited to see what will come out of this year. There is no time like the present!

Its this hope that keeps us looking forward. Sometimes we want to look back and dwell on the past, but if we dwell and wish to go back in time, I don´t think we really understand the atonement. The atonement is what helps us move forward its what changes us and makes us better. Each year can be better...so much better if we will just trust in the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. That is one of my main goals for this year is to trust, not doubt but trust! And I´m excited to change, I´m coming to find that change is a good thing!

I hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEARS!! Have fun! Send me lots of pictures of the boys, I want to see your perfect Little faces! I´m so proud of you two, I love you so much!! Have a good week and enjoy the holidays and cool weather! Love you lots! Stay strong and keep the faith!

Hermana Pasley