The last one! Newsletter Week 79, mission accomplished.

The unbelievable truth that I've learned on my mission, stronger than

any other is LOVE.

Our Father and His son Jesus Christ love us so much. More than we

could ever comprehend. Beginning to understand this incredible

principle has helped me to begin to develop this love for others. It

has changed me completely.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting

life." John 3:16

Can you believe that!? God loves us, you and me, so much that he gave

his ONLY begotten son for us. As we come to understand this we will be

changed forever.

When I began to understand this love He has for me, it changed me. I

began to love Him in ways I never had before. I learned that I obey

the commandments and the mission rules, not for extra blessing, but

because I truly love God and want to make Him proud. I want to do the

things He wants me to do.

As we learn in the scriptures, the greatest commandment God has given

us is to love one another. Loving our fellow man is the same as loving

Him. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my

brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40

They are all connected. Our love for man and our love for God is only

possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Atonement has

given us the capacity to love, even in our most imperfect state.

In the end, it is love that drives us to do everything we do. If we

love God we will keep His commandments. If we love our family we will

read our scriptures, pray, and go to church because we understand that

our actions affect them also. If we love our ancestors we will do our

family history and help them enter into paradise. We do it all out of

love.

I truly love Texas so much, the Texas pride, the food, the people. I

will miss them all dearly. These people have changed my life and I

have learned so much from them. The Ward member, investigators,

companions, my mission president and his family, and mostly my

incredible family who has supported me and helped me through it all. I

am new. I love you all and I am so excited and grateful to see you

this week. I would also love to see you at my homecoming on May 15th.




Pics:

1. The district threw us a funeral. It was presh. Hna VanDyke gave an

obituary speech for me.. Jajajaja :)

2. We did sooooo much service this week helping with the flooding. It

hit Jersey Village super hard. We would just walk down the river of

roads and help random people tear out their walls and carpets.

3. At the mission fireside last night, so good to reunite with my

comps before I leave. :)

Newsletter Week 78

Hey y'all! I hope you are doing great. Things are good here in Texas!
We got a ton of rain last night and everything flooded... Not to
mention that the fire alarms of our entire apartment complex were
going off all night.. Haha but due to all the rain our baptism had to
be postponed until Wednesday.
This morning we went out to check on the car.. It was fine we just
pulled it onto the curb, and then we walked down the roads.. In some
points the water was up to my thighs! Crazy stuff. I am going to miss
good old Texas rain season.
This week went really good, we went to our investigator who is getting
baptized on Wednesday 25th birthday party. It was a blast! I love the
people here so much. He has literally changed his life so much to be a
member of this church. I know that the gospel changes lives for the
better and helps us find true happiness. <3
I love ya all! :) I love being a missionary:)

Newsletter Week 77

Hey friends and family. I hope y'all had a really spiritual week this week.

I've probably taught the Plan of Salvation hundreds of times
throughout my mission, about where we go after this life. The Spirit
World, especially Paradise, the place that is prepared for the
righteous. And even though I know it, this week I couldn't seem to
wrap my mind around it. What is it really like?

In Alma 40 it says:

"11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the
resurrection--Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that
the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal
body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are
taken home to that God who gave them life.
12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are
righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called
paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest
from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."

Every righteous soul is received into this state of peace, and even
though I don't know exactly what it is like, I know it is better than
the world we now live in. The people in Paradise are happy. What a
comfort to know.

I know our loved ones that pass from this life are there, they are so
close to us. This week I had a spiritual experience and felt her so
close. President Russell M Nelson said "our loved ones may be just as
close as the next room--separated only by the doors of death." This
spirit paradise is near us. What a wonderful opportunity it will be to
continue to learn and grow there. To be reunited with all of our loved
ones that have passed on.

As we see death through gospel eyes it gives us a whole new
perspective. I stand by Paul asking “O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory? …" it takes the pain away to know that
families are forever, that our loved ones are in a state of happiness
until they will receive the blessing of the resurrection and along
with us be judged according to our actions here.

Thinking about the final judgement can often bring feelings of fright.
But this is not how our sweet loving Father in Heaven wants us to
feel. He wants us to be prepared and to receive us with open arms. If
we are faithful we too will be able to hear the loving words of our
Savior saying: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast
been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many
things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

I know families are eternal. We will all be in the Celestial Kingdom
together. And there we will experience even more joy than we felt with
our families here. There is nothing I love more than my family and
what a blessing to know that we will be together Eternally.

Even though this week I wanted so badly to be at home with my family,
I wanted to be with them during this time, I felt my Savior so near to
me. I know He loves us, He comforts us and He will never leave us
alone. Especially during the hardest times. This gospel is true.
Families are eternal. Death is nothing but a door to a better life.

Newsletter week 76

Hey y'all! I hope ya had a great week. We had a good one! We really
worked hard to reach our goals this week and came super close to
meeting all of them:) I had MLC this week.. My last one! :) I love
that meeting.. But it always stresses me out.. Haha. I also had my
last zone meeting. I was able to talk about faith. I love faith. Our
Mission President challenged every companionship to baptize every
month. I love seeing the faith of the missionaries as they strive
their hardest to fulfill this challenge.
I absolutely loved conference, the spirit was so strong, I know that

those chosen men are servants of God! This is His one and only true
church. I feel so blessed to be a part of it. We watched it in English
on Saturday but on Sunday we watched it in Spanish with our
investigators. I sure am going to miss speaking this celestial
language all the time.
So ready for a story?

The story of last P-day.
So last Monday I decided that I really wanted to go hang out with the
district. So I plea the cause with my comp and she tells me that she
doesn't want to go cuz it would be lame. I assure her that it would
NOT be lame and that we would have a lot of fun.. So against her will
she finally agrees to come.
It was the end of the month.. And we were completely out of miles. The
chapel we were going to go to as a district is about 45 minutes away.
We decided to just drive to the Canyon Lakes Hermanas apartment about
15 minutes away and then we would car-pool with them.
We jump in the car with them and it is all off to a great start. I
give my companion and encouraging smile that all will be great. She
doesn't seem to be convinced.
We finally get there... And to my great despair.. It was really lame.
We tried to do some things to make it fun... And it just wasn't
working. So me, my comp, and one other of the Hermanas decide to go
get frozen yogurt to escape.
Pday comes to an end and we all pile back in the canyon lakes hermanas
car and make the trip back home. When we pull up to their apartment we
see, to our amusement, that the GPS had fallen off our car's
windshield and hit our hazard lights. I reach into my bag to grab the
keys and turn them off. To my great despair the keys were not there! I
looked frantically for them with no luck.
We had a super important appointment in 30 minutes and we were 35
minutes away. Not to mention that we were house keyless, carless and
in our pday clothes with our pros clothes locked in our hazard light
flashing car. The canyon lakes hermanas phone ring.. Their appointment
cancels. They came up with the great idea that they would just give us
some clothes, drive us to our appointment and contact in our area
while we were in the lesson. What Angels <3 so all goes well.
We receive a call from the Katy Hermanas and they inform us that they
found our keys in their chapel. They take the hike all the way down
here to bring us our keys and use every last mile hey ever had. They
are true saints. By the time we get our keys it's about.. 9:40. And
our hazard lights are starting to flash quite dimmly....And I had
officially made all the hermanas in my district get home super late. I
felt real bad.
We thank the Katy hermanas for the keys, hug them, and send them back
on their way to their apartment. Me and the other STL Hermana head to
the car, as we were planning to do splits the next day because we had
MLC super early the next morning. So I finally unlock the car.. Stick
the keys in the ignition.. Turn..... Annnnnd...... Nothing. Absolutely
nothing. The car was completely dead.
We frantically think of what on earth we could do... We decide to call
our best friend Suamy... But he didn't call any jumping cables.. So we
call our other best friend Victor. He listens.. Then laughs.. Then
says he'll come save us. He lives over 30 minutes away. He gets there
at about 10:40 and jumps our car for us. What a jem. He told us that
we couldn't turn the car off for another 20 minutes. We thank him for
saving us and he goes on his way.
We decide to just stay the night with the Canyon Lakes Hermanas.. We
sleep... Well didn't really sleep... But attempted on a super old
hide-a-way bed until the alarm went off at the unspoken hours of the
morning and me and the other STL head over to MLC and try our our
hardest not to fall asleep.
Moral of the story... My companion easily convinced me not to leave
the apartment today.. So we are staying peacefully at home. Sometimes
I wish i just would have listened the first time.

Pics:
1. Victor to the rescue
2. Sleep tight.....
3. My companion hold my head when I feel stressed. #compunity

Newsletter Week 75

Hey y'all! I hope you all had a great week. This week was full of
miracles. Like really llena! :) first off we went to the temple with
Sandra to do baptisms for her mom and dad. It was so so so Special!
She said as she walked in that she felt as if she had just stepped
into Heaven. :)
We also recently had the opportunity to go to the temple and do the
temple work for our own ancestor. We had to find our own name of
family search and then we went to the temple and performed the work
for them. The experience I had was incredible. I can feel the presence
of the Lord so powerfully in the temple. Like really it is incredible.
I know the work we do in the temple is real. We are the only church
with these sacred ordinances that Jesus Christ established restored
once again.
Saturday Eduardo got baptized! It was so awesome to be able to see his
conversion. We found him outside his apartment about two months ago..
And he has completely changed his life. His baptism was beautiful. Man
I love this work. I have made so many great friendships.. It is going
to be really hard to leave this land.
Also two of my recent converts moved into the Ward this Week! So i am
super happy I get to see them again:)
Sunday was the highlight of the week, Sandra, Victor and Suamy, three
of the recent converts I love so much got up and bore their testimony
about the truthfulness of the gospel and how it has changed their
lives. I was so full of joy I couldn't stop smiling to ear to ear. The
Lord really is at the helm of his work. This is his true gospel. It is
complete. I love it and it fills me so full of joy! I hope you all had
a great safe Easter weekend and were able to ponder more on the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. I love you so much and am super excited
to see y'all Soon! Take care!

Pics:
At the temple with Sandra
Eduardo's baptism
We were out contacting and all the sudden the concrete started to act
like a caterpillar #whoknows

Newsletter Week 74

Hey no time! This week was a good one! We have seen so many miracles

so I can't complain. We have Eduardo's baptism this week, so so good:)

I am super excited! I hope you have a great week. The church is true

and the book is blue:)




Pics: we went to the temple this week! So happy.

We went to our investigators house for our appointment and she tried

to cancel with is because she was painting.. We quickly informed her

we were actually professional painters too. She laughed and let us in.

#missionarylife :)

Making sopes with the Alcantaras

Newsletter Week 73 "I Know"

Hey y'all! So I am greenie breaking my new companion, her name is Hermana VanDyke. She is from Virginia, so that's cool:) she is really sweet. Things here have been going pretty good, really not much new. Just teaching, knocking and planning.. That pretty much sums up my missionary life haha. I love the people here so much, I am so grateful I get to finish my mission in good old Jersey Village:)
I titled this newsletter "I know" because I wanted to share some things that I know with you.
If any of you are having a hard time keeping your faith in the the restored gospel, I want you to know that I love you..so much and I am here to help.
I know that this gospel is true. I haven't always known, I have hoped that it was true and trusted that it was true, heck, I even went on a mission trusting and hoping it was true.. But now I KNOW it is true. I know it as much as I know that I have a family that loves me, i know it because I feel it, because of the evidences God has given us, such as the Book of Mormon, Temple Ordinances and Living prophets.
The more I study the scriptures, and especially the bible, the more my testimony grows concerning Joseph Smith and the restored church. There are so many evidences, but that doesn't make people believe. Think of when Jesus Christ himself was on the Earth, he could have given proof after proof after proof that he was the son of God, but he didn't and he didn't do it because he asks us to have faith. "And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Alma 32:21
I have never seen the original plates of the Book of Mormon, I wasn't present when God presented himself to Joseph Smith. BUT IT HAPPENED! I believe in what I didn't see, because it is true. "The Lord taught His Apostle Thomas, who wanted physical evidence of the Savior’s Resurrection by touching His wounds, that revelation is safer evidence: “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
The truths that mark the way home to God are verified by the Holy Ghost. We cannot go to the grove and see the Father and the Son speak to the young Joseph Smith. No physical evidence or any logical argument can establish that Elijah came as promised to confer the priesthood keys now held and exercised by a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson.
Confirmation of truth comes to a son or daughter of God who has claimed the right to receive the Holy Ghost. Since falsehoods and lies may be presented to us at any time, we need a constant influence of the Spirit of Truth to spare us moments of doubt." (Those were not my words haha hence the close quote)
I know that there is so much anti-Mormon doctrine, frankly I have had it thrown at me many times during my mission, and some of it may appear so truthful, but remember that the Devil works so hard against the true church to make it appear false. Our mission president gave us some good advice concerning how to maintain a strong testimony.
Let's say our testimony is a tree, the roots are our base, our fundamental knowledge. This is what's important, don't get so caught up in a little doubt out on a leaf that you forget to start from the roots.
We will know the truth by the power of the Holy Ghost, it will bear testimony to us that this the true church if we ask.
"While a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, George Q. Cannon urged that we make a constant quest for the Spirit to be with us. He promised, and I promise it as well, ( that if we is is president Russell M Nelson talking) pursue that course, we “will never lack for knowledge” of the truth, “never be in doubt or in darkness,” and our “faith will be strong, [our] joy … full.”"
I invite you all to kneel down today and re-ask for the confirmation that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet, the truth is inside of you and you will remember that it is true. I love you, I am here for you. I know this is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Hermana Parslow

Newsletter Week 72

Hey hey! I hope y'all had a great week, this week was super busy. I
don't even know where it went. I had MLC, we learned more about how to
better teach the commandment of baptism. Our mission has the goal of
baptizing 600 converts this year, we are super pumped! And so far we
are doing pretty good to stay on track:)
We also had a meeting with Sister Oscarson.... Bragging moment.. I
HUGGED THE RELIEF SOCIETY PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD! She is so sweet, you
can just feel the love her and her counselors have for the saints:)
they talked about the love the Lord has for us:)
We then had zone meeting:) it went good... And this week is the
dreaded transfer call week... And Hermana Gayler is out. :( I am gonna
miss her so so so much! she was a great companion. And that means that
I am ending my mission here in Jersey Village. Haha good thing I love
the people so much in this Ward:)
Not a ton new here:) I love y'all! Have a great week.

Pics:
Insanity this morning... #killer I am super excited to be able to
really workout again.. #sofun :)
The Alcantara family, Hermano went to Mexico this week and brought us
back Valeros to play with.
We were out contacting and met a famous soccer player from El Salvador
Our zone :)

Newsletter Week 71

Hey Y'all! I hope you are doing great. This week was a good one:) we
have been so busy! Which is great as a missionary.
 This week we had the baptism of Sandra! Haha what an experience that
was.. She has been so so prepared in her teaching, we had to have some
sort of problem. Let me tell the story:
Sandra's baptism:
So we are super duper excited for Sandra's baptism and we go to the
church to fill up the font and set everything up. So we fill up the
font and all is good. The water is warm, the chairs are in line, the
hymn books are placed this was going to be the best baptism ever.
Anyways members start to arrive and things are looking great. We look
at the font again... About 15 minutes before the baptism was going to
start and there is only 1 foot of water... We tried to find the source
of the problem and realized it was the plug. Let me explain this plug
to you... It is about as wide as a tortilla and exactly as thick as a
tortilla and also about as strong as a flimsy tortilla... So when we
put it over the gaping whole of a drain when the water gets heavy it
buckles under the pressure turns into a taco into the drain, while the
water quickly goes down the drain. So I hike up my dress and brave the
water to try to kindly place it back over the drain. It seems to be a
success. We turn the water back on and pretend that nothing happened.
The baptism starts and during the opening prayer we hear a pop and a
whirlwind of water sound. My comp and I just freeze in our seats. Well
one of our super brave elders decides he will brave the water and go
try to figure it out. So he goes back there and we just sit there
pretending to be calm and listen to the speaker... We hear the gasps
from the elder, and just pray all was going well. After 3 or 4 minutes
the other Elder goes back there to find out what was going on. What
they didn't know is that the room back there echoes so we heard
everything they said. "Elder.... HELP ME." Meanwhile.... The
missionary special musical number comes up. So my Companion, me, and
just one of the elders sang. Poor elder had to sing a solo and was
scared to death, because his comp was occupied with the tank. Well
that went ok. Well the baptism was up and the elder who had went to go
check out the font was still back there.. So I go back to investigate
because the elder was supposed to be a witness. Some go back there and
see the elder IN THE FONT IN HIS SUIT! And he was drenched! He had
jumped in in his suit replaces the plug. Well Sandra gets up to go to
the font, and the sopping wet elder came out just in time to stand as
a witness of the baptism of Sandra in 2.5 feet of chilly cold water.
What a baptism that was.
Well that's about all that comes to my mind when I think of this week.
I have MLC this week, so that should be exciting. Not much more to say
about this week, the time is going by so fast it makes me nervous. I
love y'all! Have a great week:)

Pics:
Sandra's baptism.
Heart attacking our best friends car
Insanity with our new friends... They renamed me Paris because they
can't say my name.. Haha :)

Newsletter Week 70 ... I think :)

Hey y'all! I hope y'all had a great week!

This week was interesting none the less.. Haha if I was to title it..
It would most likely be Creepy Men Week. The warmer the weather gets
the creepier the men get too. Haha this week my Comp and I lied about
being married so many times. But honestly what makes a person think
they can be so bold and straight up creepy I will never know. All is
well that ends well.

Back about the work. This week we had zone conference.... My. Very.
Last. One. So so so sad! I had to give my "dying" testimony... Man it
was hard. As I contemplated and tried to put in words how I felt about
my mission it was so hard! I love my mission so so much, it has
definitely been the hardest thing I have ever done. Hands down. But I
have never been happier. Seeing the gospel change people's lives
changes me.

Like our sweet sweet investigator that is getting baptized this
Saturday. She inspires me so much. She recently came here from her
country and was having a hard time adjusting to the American culture.
Her cousin in California (who is a member) told her about the church
and she agreed to listen to missionaries. I have seen this gospel
change her completely, just a month ago she was filled with fear and
felt so lonely. She has been filled with a new confidence and so much
faith. In her job she kept asking for Sunday's off so she could attend
all three hours of church instead of having to leave after sacrament
meeting. She asked and asked but he refused to give Sunday's to her.
She talked to us about her concern, we taught her about fasting and
the power it has. We invited her to do a 24 hour fast to ask Heavenly
Father for help. We promised we would do it with her. Well last week
we all fasted together and this week she decided to QUIT HER JOB!!! We
she told me my eyes filled with tears. I have never met an
investigator with so much faith. I love her so much. She inspires me
to be better, she searches the scriptures, she says sincere prayers
and her testimony is so strong. Man I feel so blessed to know her.

This week we also had a Ward activity put on by la obra
misional...(honestly I cannot figure out how to say that correctly in
English.... But what it is is the full time missionaries and the Ward
mission leader:) we did activities and games and learned about how the
Holy Ghost works.. It was one of the funnest activities I've ever had
on the mission:) super fun:) I should have taken some pics:)

Haha a dumb moment of my week.. So we were at the park with a recent
convert... And I decided to try and be cool (lame I know;) and do this
pull up thing and then grab a bar above my head with one arm while
holding the pull up... Well the first one went great, so I got all
kinds of confidence and went to do it again and totally messed up my
shoulder... So that's the worst.. Haha it's been hurting all week...
-_-

Well love you all so much! Thank you for everything. Hope you have a
great week.

Pics:
Sandra! :)
Comp and I out jumping in puddles welcoming in Texas rain season:)
We found this poor kitty that had manges disease... And it pulled on
our heart stings so we ran to Walmart and bought it its last meal.
#catlovers
Video: we got a new life... (;

Newsletter Week 69

Hey!!! I hope yall had a super great week!!!
Things here have been so good. Stressful but good.
So so so many blessings! Our investigator got baptized!!!! His wife is a member and they are seriously the cutest couple in the world. I have never met people as in love as them, serious future marriage goal status.. well they just had a super cute little boy too... anyways back to the point. His wife is a member and he is nice and comes to church and even reads from the Book of Mormon, but has never wanted to be baptized a member. He had some serious doubts by hearing some Mormon myths about the book of Mormon and Jose Smith. Well his wife has just loved him through his journey knowing if the church is true, she was so patient even though she often mentioned about her goal about being sealed in the temple with him.
Well we went over on Monday night and had a family home evening, we talked about eternal families and talked to him about being sealed in the temple with his family, he said he really wanted to. We said to prepare to be able to be sealed he needs to be baptized. He agreed to be baptized and got baptized on Friday!! He has been investigating the church so long! And he finally made the decision to put his trust in his faith and leave his doubts behind. Him and his wife were just beaming at their baptism.
Our mission president always talks to us about raising our vision to the temple, and helping our investigators do the same. This week I was able to see the fruits of that. I feel so so so blessed and happy. So many many miracles! :)
Love you all!!!


pics:
happy valentines day all:)
One of my favorite members ever:)
The one of the piñata, we were out contacting, and we asked this lately if we could share a 2 minute message of Jesus Christ with her, she told us that she was too busy and preceded to talk for 20 minutes about piñatas she makes... they were super awesome piñatas though!! :)
Rey's Baptism!! :)
Dinner last night: Fish head and baby shrimp rice.. Yummmmm... :) #youknowIloveSeafood




--

Love, Hermana Parslow

Newsletter Week 68

Hello friends and family!
I hope you all had a great week, not a ton to talk about here. This
week was a crazy one. I had MLC, went on exchanges and had zone
meeting. So talk about crazy busy. Thursday was the first day I
actually had a full day working in my own area. Haha I have been
noticing a pattern I'm not a huge fan of.. So every week of MLC and
zone meeting I always get sick, haha I think it is due to the lack of
sleep.... -_-
But anyhow on to things of a but more importance, our investigator is
doing great for her baptismal date! We shared why we have commandments
and the Word of Wisdom with her, and she committed to try to live it,
but wasn't real convinced. So we are hoping to help her with that:)
We are still on the search for new investigators, but at least we now
have a few that are actually progressing:)
Can I just rant for a minute on how stinkin great Texas is! I
seriously love Houston so much.. If my heart wasn't so set in living
in Mantua, Utah... I might just consider living here. The people are
so incredible:) I love them so much:)
As many of you know, the great Texas Houston Mission lost one of her
Alumni's this week. Please keep the family of Sister Jeppson in your
prayers. <3
Well I'm not sure where the rest of the week went.... But that is all
that is coming to mind.
I love you all! Have. Great week. :)

One of the recent converts made us friendship bracelets.... My heart=full

Hermana Parslow

Newsletter Week 67

This week was so full of the spirit!
I have some big news.... Ready for it???
I SHOOK THE PRESIDENT OF THE QUOROM OF THE 12 APOSTLES HAND!!!!
He even told me "Buenos Dias" :D
I was literally so happy... I swear I could feel his testimony through
his hand. ;)
So we had a special missionary conference with him this Saturday, the
three Texas Houston Missions gathered together (all 700 of us) to hear
him. He talked to us for an hour and a half. It was the coolest thing,
when President Nelson spoke he spoke with such a surety of the things
of the gospel, that it felt impossible to be around him and not
believe too.
He was taking to us about the importance of family history work, and
he shared and experience he recently had. If you all remember his last
conference talk, he mentioned him performing heart surgery on the
little girl, the surgery was not a success and the little girl passed
away. Well a few years later the same parents brought their other
little girl with a similar heart problem for President Nelson to try
and perform a lifesaving operation. The little girl did not make it
either. He talked to us about the hardship that was for him and the
two little girls parents life. President Nelson than went on to tell
us that those two girls have recently visited him from the Spirit
World. They told him that they were not sealed to anyone. President
Nelson went on his way to help those two girls be sealed to their
parents. They got sealed this past November. Over 50 years since they
left this life.
He went on to tell us that there are so so so many people in the
spirit world wanting to be helped, and to have their ordinances done
for them, but they do not know how to get help.
We have the key, we can help them! He said something really funny too,
he said that they are very much alive and don't like to be called
dead.. Haha. Never thought of that:)
We also had stake conference on Sunday, and President Nelson spoke to
us all in Spanish! It was the cutest thing in the world! I love him so
much. He spoke to us about the how to have stronger more united
families. He said several things that I really liked, I'd like to
share a few:)
He taught that the Gospel does not replace parents. Taught that
parents should inspire their children, rather than control them. There
was something else I really liked, he said your standing at the bottom
of a ladder, you look up and see all these blessing at the top... Then
he said, blessings don't have feet.... But you do! :)
Well that was pretty much the highlight of my week:) life is super
good:) I love this Gospel, I love my mission.
Have a great week!

One of the missionaries drew this:)

Purple tongues after eating an entire package of blackberries... Yummy! :)

Love them sooo much! :)

Hermana Parslow

Newsletter Week 66

Hey y'all!
I hope that this week was a good one for ya:)
What a week we had here! To start of we had this awesome world wide
missionary conference. We met as an entire mission to watch it. We
received a lot of revelation on what we could do better. The theme was
"we teach repentance and baptize converts" which reminds me of
something I found in my studies today that says:

"When we bring people into the Church, we are not baptizing them into
the Church of a man, whether that man be Joseph Smith or Brigham Young
or Thomas S. Monson--revere those prophets as we do. And we are not
baptizing them into the Church of happy families or of the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir.
When we bring people into the Church, we baptize them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. In doing so, we are
leading them back to the presence of the Father through the ministry,
Atonement, and grace of His Son, with the influence of the Holy Ghost
guiding them to this goal. We must always keep uppermost in our minds
this preeminence of the Godhead as both means and end as we undertake
the work of salvation." Elder Holland

I really loved that! I sometimes feel that I am trying to sell the
church to people, showing them all the cool programs and organizations
the church offers, but really what we are offering is the way and the
path to eternal life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week we also went to the temple with a recent convert. Our
mission is starting this thing where every 4th Friday of the month the
temple is reserved for recent converts who are going to the temple for
the first time with their own family names. It was such a beautiful
night to be able to see so many recent converts there doing the work
of the lord. Their testimonies are so strong!

Also we had transfer calls last night... And guess what! I'm staying
in Jersey Village with Hermana Gayler! So that is fun:) haha this
place really feels pretty much like home, I have been serving with
most of these same members for like 8-9 months now:) haha so my
address is still:
10919 west rd. #414
Houston, TX 77064

Love y'all! Hope you have a great week:)

This morning eating breakfast with one of the wars members:)



Hermana Parslow

Newsletter Week 65

This week I learned "it's all about the attitude"
So the beginning of this weeks I'm gonna be honest things were not
going as planned.
There is an investigator we have been working so much with, praying a
fasting for, calling and helping with reading, literally doing
everything we can to help him with his testimony.
Well the whole time he has been struggling with something concerning
the law of chastity.
On Thursday night we went to our lesson with him, and he told us that
he wasn't going to be able to get baptized because he isn't willing to
change his lifestyle to live in harmony with the commandments. My
companion and I were literally heart broken. You could see in his eyes
that he had received his answer from God and that he knew the church
was true, but he wasn't willing to change to live in harmony with it.
We bore strong testimony to him that we know these thighs are true..
He said that he was still going to come to church, but he ignored our
texts and didn't come on Sunday. He is a good person, I really hope
one day he will accept the gospel.
So with the baptism of Fernanda, Victor and Theodora and then him
dropping us we are running super low on investigators, like really
low.
So after feeling super sad all day Thursday, we decided that on Friday
we weren't going to say anything that wasn't positive. And in our
prayers we couldn't ask for a blessing until we had thanked him for 4
things. And our day was great! We knocked so many doors! It was
great:) we honestly felt so happy.
Sunday we decided to do a gratitude fast. The lord blessed us so much.
My testimony grew so much on the power of gratitude. :) I love the
mission so much! I hope y'all have a great week.



Only in Texas do we see... On a nearly regular basis.. People riding
horses down the rode.
Our cute little district! + Suamy
Hermana Parslow

Newsletter Week 64

Hey! This week was such a crazy one!! Super stressful, but super good.
This Tuesday I had MLC, and we learned about how are mission is doing, and may I just say that I am in the best mission in the world!! He showed a graph of convert baptisms, and the mission is doing significantly better than it has done in the past 15 years! We have such an inspired Mission President. He really pushes us to be our best, but it is definitely worth it:)


Some exciting news is that President Russell M. Nelson is coming to our very own little Spanish Stake at the end of this month!!!!!! I am so excited:) We are the last pure Spanish speaking stake in the United States... so we are expecting something pretty big to be happening.


This week I was feeling pretty stressed, we had a baptism to plan, I had zone meeting to plan, I had to speak in Sacrament Meeting, annnd we had to teach Gospel Principles, on top of that were struggling getting many of our key indicator goals for the week, and honestly I was just feeling super duper stressed with all of it. I honestly just wanted to give up, but I decided to say a prayer for help instead. I felt prompted to open the scriptures and I opened up to Mosiah 24:14


"14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.".


It gave me the comfort I needed, and the Lord did help me through it. I was able to teach and example role play in Zone Meeting, He helped me give the talk, we taught the class and we achieved many of the Key Indicator goals we were trying to reach. And Fernanda had a beautiful Baptism:)


I honestly love my mission so much. I have learned and grown more than I ever could have imagined. It has been the hardest, best thing of my life. I love the Hispanic people. I love Texas:) I love my Heavenly Father.


I hope you all have a great week!! :)
--

Love, Hermana Parslow

Newsletter Week 63

Hey yall:) This week flew by so fast! It was truly a week of miracles.
We have been working a lot with the unknown members (trying to find them and get to know them) of the ward and have seen so many miracles through it this week:) We have found that many of them really want to come back, they just need someone to reach out and invite them. This week, we had 3 new Less active families come to church, and 2 of them brought their neighbors!! It was such a miracle.
I hope yall had a very happy new years, and put some good new goals. I am excited for 2016 and all the things it brings:) And to grow even closer to Heavenly Father.
I went on exchanges this week, with one of the Hermanas in my zone that is still in training. I love being around the new missionaries and feeling of their excitement for the work:)
Well love yall, hope ya have a great week!

Pic: We made these flowers out of Jolly Ranchers with the Young Women in the ward and delivered them to our 15 year old investigator with them:)
--

Love, Hermana Parslow

Newsletter Week 62

Hey ya'll! :) I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.


This week we had the Baptism of Victor!! yay! It was definitely the highlight of the week:) He is so awesome and is going to be such a great member.



So I got to try my hand at making some homemade corn tortillas this weeks. The Hispanics use nothing but their hands.. at first they weren't very pretty... but I eventually got the hang of it.. and can now say that I am pretty good at making homemade tortillas, even the Hispanics approved :) haha


The other day one of our investigators had us over for Lunch and he pulled out these TINY peppers. Like the size of a seed. He told us to try one. The only thing is... we didn't know you weren't supposed to eat it plain! So right away our faces turned red and our eyes watered. It was SUPER spicy, I will most definitely not be eating those again any time soon.


We had the Christmas conference this past week! It was fun to have all of the missionaries in the whole mission gathered together. We never gather together with so many of us at the same time. We sang Christmas Carols, ate dinner, and watched the Nativity. There was a part called Christmas around the world where President Mortensen had the foreign missionaries talk about what Christmas is like in their countries, it was really interesting to hear missionaries from all over the world share their experiences.


I learned something really cool there that I wanted to share:)
So we all know the gifts that the three wise men brought:
Frankincense: used by those who were able to enter into the temple, it was used at the alter of sacrifice. When they burnt it it would emanate a sweet smell that would drift into the entire city. Which would draw and invite others to go to the temple.
Myrrh: Used in burials.
Gold: The finest metal that could be given.
Our Mission President went on to deepen our understanding about the symbolism behind each of these gifts, and how these are still the gifts that the Lords wise servants still give.
Frankincense: Represents sharing the sweetness of the gospel with others, and helping people find their way to the temple.
Myrrh: Is doing the work for the dead.(Family History/Temple Work)
Gold: Our very best efforts, doing all we can to keep the commandments and be faithful members of his church:)
I know as we love the savior we will strive to give him our best gifts!



Christmas Day was pretty good, we opened our presents, and my mom sent like this scripture chase thing, where on each gift there was a scripture written, and you had to look up the scripture and guess what the gift was. We had a blast. And we made Gingerbread Houses with our District:) It was really fun too, And then I got to talk to the family. It was so good to see them all:) I have truly been blessed with a great family:)


Then Christmas Day we went out to do some Missionary work, we ended up finding 2 new investigators! I am really excited to work with them, we went back to their house on Sunday:)
Christmas day we also got to have a lesson with some new investigators that we had found earlier in the week, they said the didn't have family here.. so they decided the invite us over:)


Well life is great!!! I love you all!! Hope you have a great week :)
Sorry this week's is so long... haha just had a ton to share:)