Lutheran Women in Mexico: Priscila

Welcome to the 8th installment of our series covering Lutheran women in Mexico. This week we’re featuring Priscila, who is originally from Torreón, Mexico. She now lives in Whiteriver, Arizona, with her husband Pastor Joel Sutton.

How did Priscila get involved in the Lutheran church? Here's her story:

Priscila grew up attending the Lutheran church in Torreón. "My grandmother first found the Lutheran church here," Priscila recalls. "She started bringing my mom, who then raised her own children in the church."

While Priscila’s home base was the congregation El Redentor (Redeemer) in Torreón, she also supported ongoing mission work in the area. In recent years she attended some of the new congregations in Torreón. Her smiling face was always a welcome sight, and her generous personality really helped some of the places get a jumpstart.

A couple of years ago, Priscila helped Jorge and Carlos (who were seminary students at the time) get a new mission off the ground. Every week they headed to Zaragoza Sur, where they taught children Bible stories. "I loved spending time with the kids and watching the mission grow," she says.

And grow it did. The mission started - literally - from nothing, and now has a property, building, and regular church services with an average weekly attendance of 30.

In 2006, Joel Sutton came to Torreón. He was a seminary student at the time, and spent his vicar year serving the mission congregation Jesus Pan de Vida (Bread of Life). While he was here, he met Priscila.

When it was time to return to the seminary and finish his studies, Joel kept in touch with Priscila. After they both finished school – Priscila graduating with a business degree and Joel finishing his studies at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary – they started making wedding plans. The two were married in November 2009, and now live in Arizona. Joel serves as pastor of The Church of the Open Bible in Whiteriver, which is located on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

We wish Priscila and Joel the richest blessings in their new life together, and ask that God would be their source of strength throughout their lives of ministry.

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This brings our series to a close. I'd like to thank all of the women in Mexico for the work they so willingly do. They continue to inspire and encourage me, and I look forward to attending the upcoming women’s convention, which will be held this summer in Monterrey. Stay tuned!

Also, if there are other topics that you'd like to see as a series, let us know and we will look into covering it. Some of our previous series are listed below:
Mexican Recipes

Things I love about Mexico

Video Series