Slow...slow...slow

Hi family and friends!

So this week was really painfully slow...sadly. We had lots of appointments but most of them fell through. The one appointment we were really looking forward to was with Edwin and Edith. We were going to go to the temple with them but the night before we were suppose to go we got a call the Edwin's cousin had passed away. It seams that the adversary is working so hard to tear him down. He just really wants Edwin but we are not going to let that happen. We are helping in anyway we can but right now we really need the prayers for him so I ask that you all keep him in your prayers. 

Guillermo, our miracle investigator is progressing beautifully. He is like a sponge! Just soaks up all the information we give him! He is so great! I just really hope he starts coming to church soon! That is probably our number one problem...getting investigators to church! It is so hard! There are some of them that really do want to come to church but don't have their own cars so it is just coordinating with the members...then there are other who simply feel like they need to know more before they come to church. We just keep on praying for them. 

This week we did a lot of things with the members such as we had a family home evening with the Cervantes! Oh that was so much fun! We created cookies...basically they turned out to be reeses cookies and they were SO GOOD!!! AHHHHHHH!! I ate about half of the bowl of cookie dough!! It was rough!! Huge stomach ache afterwards! We also played Animals! (if you don't know what that is then email me and I will tell you how to play...it is soooooo much fun!!) The Cervantes are probably one of my most favorite families...probably because they remind me so much of my own! They are so great! I love them! 

I don't have much else to say...so I will let the pictures tell you more of what is happening down here. ;)

Hermana Paredes 

Over and out!   

We get chased by the Middle Schooler Bicycle Gang....

Hi Everyone! 

 So I have a bit of explaining to do....We had transfers this week so that is why I didn't write an email Monday. Our P-day got changed to Tuesday so every six weeks expect an email on Tuesday instead of Monday.

Okay, bicycle gang story! So we were out contacting (meeting people who are walking on the street and sharing the message of the Restored Gosple) and we came up on a group of middle schoolers with some elementary schoolers (ages 4-13) who were sitting on their bikes. We were in a rush to an appointment so we didn't stop to talk to them but one of them shouted at us,because they saw that we were in skirt,and said "Who are you guys?!" I shouted back "We are the missionaries!" "The mission-what?!"  "Missionaries!" So we fly past them and then I hear from behind us the clicking of bicycle chains so I turn around and I see the whole herd following us! Haha! They kept shouting "Hey wait up!" and "Come on! Lets follow them!" Pretty soon more and more began to join the group! I swear we had all the kids in that neighborhood racing after us! I mean like there were literally kids running after us!! IT WAS CRAZY!!! Eventually Hermana Torres stopped and we showed the Easter video. (If you haven't seen it, you HAVE too!) They were all so friendly and asked a lot of questions about Christ and our church. We ended up giving all of them a pass along card and committed them to show their parents this video! They happily agreed to do it! SO cool!! I wish I had gotten a picture with them but we didn't have enough time.

Funny story: So we did a bit of tracting Sunday and we knocked on this one door. Normally when someone answers the door, we tell them that we are missionaries from the church of....(you get the picture) and then we ask them their name by using Senor or Senora. We do this because most of the people we contact are Latino...except for this case. Hermana Torres knocked and this women answered. These are Hermana Torres exact words... "Hi we are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What is your name ladyyysir?" I'm sure Hermana Stevens and my eyes bulged and my first thoughts were "If there was any chance before..there is no chance now." Thank goodness she was nice and just politely declined. Oh man I thought we were going to get yelled at! Hahah! Ladysir! :D 

Edwin is doing good! He is slowly but surely progressing! We absolutely love him! Sadly he is having a hard time getting to church. There is a lot going on in his life right now but we have high hopes for him. We picked up six new investigators this week! SIX!! WOW!! Most of them were contacts! We met this great old couple who basically told us that they are looking for the true church and they are GOLDEN! To bad we didn't have much time to talk to them this week but I am praying that next week we will set a baptismal date for them! Oh I wish I had enough time to tell you about all of our contacts but sadly I don't so I will just tell you about our miracle contact. 

MIRACLE! We had a miracle lesson! We were over at one of our members home for dinner and then we saw, through the window, one of our investigators talking to a nieghbor. Hermana Magana is the best! She goes and opens the sliding door and invites both of them to come and have dinner with us! They both happily came over because who wouldn't take up the offer of free food! We then got talking to the neighbor and just talked about life which switched over into religion... with a little help from Hermana Magana. (I just love her! Can I tell you how much I love her! Oh she is the best!) We took that as our sign to share our message. We showed him the bible video "To this end was I born" and then we shared with him some scriptures from Mathew 27...and wow! WOW! The spirit was so strong! But then Hermana Torres and Hermana Stevens come in like a wrecking ball and the spirit was undeniably there! As I was listening to them bear their testimonies, I felt a prompting to talk about baptism so as soon as they were done, I began to talk about how one of the gifts that God has given us is baptism and this is how we can follow Christ and thank him for his matchless gift of atoning for us...then the words just popped out of my mouth. I invited him to baptism. He was quiet for a minute so Hermana Torres reinvited him. That is when he said "yes". HE SAID YES!!! It was a miracle! He is still unsure about the date and he still has some concerns but that is okay because that is what we are here for! We insured him that we would help him a hundred percent to be prepared for baptism!! He is getting baptized May 7th!!! A MIRACLE!!!  It just astounds me how the spirit can change someones heart...just like that! 

I love it here! Honestly there is no place I would rather be then serving the Lord in Sacramento California

I love you all! <3

Hermana Paredes

Over and out