We be balling....

Hey family and friends, So first off I would like to apologize for the any panic I may have caused with my last email title...maybe choosing "shotgunned" as my title wasn't the wisest choice... also the fact that I forgot to explain what it meant in my last email. haha! Okay, here is what it means. When two missionaries become companions and get put into an area that they have never been in before. No, I did not literally get shot.... I only got shotted into a new area which I don't know anything about. Two totally different things! Okay now that I got that out of the way, I'll tell you a little bit about my week.

HERMANA WOODBURY AND I ARE FINDING MACHINES!! We are totally rocking this area! Since we have been here, we have found about nine people who want to be taught! Sure some of them we had to refer to the English Elders but hey! We are all part of the same team, moving towards the same goal. So the best part about our new area is that we can bike in it!! Which means lots of contacting! I have totally become rusty on my contacting skills. Probably because in my last area all we had to contact was the cows....Wilton...Haha!

But seriously, my first contact here was a train wreck! Not a pretty sight. It was so horribly ugly that it could be describe as really similar to one of those scenes in the movies where you are actually embarrassed for the character and you just pray that the agony will end! The guy who I contacted and I basically just stared at a each other in silence while I tried to recall my social skills.....suuuuuppppper rustly! Thank goodness it is not that bad anymore! haha! Hermana Woodbury is just amazing! Her teaching skills, contacting, spanish....all of it!! She is just a amazing missionary! She honestly makes me look good.... B) haha! I love love love having her as a companion. I can always feel the spirit so strong when I teach with her and we always seem to be on the same wave length. (Also she is the best exercise and diet buddy. She told me that she wanted to try this smoothie diet thing and we have been keeping each other in check. haha! It actually is kind of fun! )

 Something I have learned this week...WELL...every week, I feel like I learn something new about the atonement and Jesus Christ. Probably my favorite part about being out on a mission is how I get to see the atonement affect people's lives little by little. How their countenances start to change and they seem to fill more with light. It is a beautiful thing to witness. I especially see it in one of our investigators, L. Everytime he meets with us, he tells us how much he loves reading the book of mormon. He always says "that book brings me so much peace." Maybe I haven't noticed it so much because I have been a member all my life but it is so true.

Reading the book of mormon and learning more of Christ just brings so much light and peace. And once you feel that light and that peace and joy....you just have got to go share it! It is undeniable! That is why I love being on a mission, because I get to share that light every single day! It just gives me thrills when I began to see it enlighten my investigators.

 I'll share with you one of my favorite scripture from this week. It's found in Doctrine and Covenants 50: 24. That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth morelight; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

My perfect day is always when I have the opportunity to bear my testimony to those I meet. I love you all and keep sharing that light that you all contain,
Hermana Paredes
over and out