Pastor Priscilla Mancilla - Trinity Las Américas UMC
Pastor Priscilla - My Call to Ministry
Pastor Priscilla Mancilla joined Trinity Las Américas on July 1, 2025.
"My Call to Ministry"
My name is Priscilla I am the third of four sisters and a younger brother. I was born in a Christian home surrounded by a lot of love from my parents; economic deprivation was part of my life until adolescence.
Attending church was as or more important than secular school. My parents taught me to love Christ and His Kingdom seven days a week.​
As I grew in age the Lord taught me to love Him, taught me the different trades in His ministry, I learned to play guitar, to preach the gospel in the streets, to visit nursing homes, jails, hospitals and be part of different ministries at the local and district level in my country, always in the Methodist Church.
Working in the Church made me discover the gift of teaching, so I went to the University to study to be a teacher of children. Today where the Lord calls me to work I dedicate myself to the teaching of his word in both children and adults. wherever I am evangelizing, in the street, in the supermarket, gym, cinema, I talk about Christ to people, I invite them to church, all my life has been the same. There was a time in my life that I tried to escape from this path, from this call but however God brought me back and I could not escape from him, I had to accept and obey because I understood that I do not belong to myself, I understood that I am of Christ and that he is mine and I just want to live with him, by him and for him.
I thank God for my secular work, but it is not what I want to do, I long to be all day working for the ministry, all my life has been like that except for that time I wanted Walk away from Him and His church. In this time of my life and looking at things in retrospect I have always known that God granted me life to serve Him in ministry, I cannot help it, hide it, I feel, a weight in my heart, fire of him, zeal for everything of Christ.
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Pastor Priscilla at TLA, playing music for ELL classes and (right) with the worship team.
In February of the year 1997 to my 17 years I had 2 experiences with Christ that marked my life with him forever, today I will only tell you one. I was on vacation with my family at the beach, I had depression and my family didn't know, I was praying and crying. I was weeping in the presence of the Lord and I asked Christ for a word and in faith and with my eyes closed I opened the Bible and put my finger on the book of Isaiah 41:10 and he said to me... Little daughter, do not fear because I am with you, do not faint because I am your God, I will always help you, I will always sustain you with the right hand of my justice. It has been 28 years since Christ gave me that promise and to this day, He keeps it and has not failed. It is time to move to another level the call he made to me one day. God bless you.
I have worked for the Methodist church in Chile until the age of 33, mainly in the ministry of music and Christian education with children, youth, adults, and special education.
All my family—brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, in-laws—formerly my great-grandparents, grandparents, my parents have served in the Methodist church and loved Christ up to this day.
I have worked in three different states for the Methodist Church before coming to Iowa in 2025: Atlanta, Georgia Acworth United Methodist Church (Christian Education). Lakewood Ranch, Florida at Harvest United Methodist Church (Christian Education) Also, in Florida Camino de Fe Iglesia Metodista Hispana Christian Education and Music Committee (Path of Faith Hispanic Methodist Church) Wisconsin Eau Claire, Iglesia Metodista Hispana Rios de Agua Viva (River of Living Water Methodist Church) Christian Education and Music Committee.