Dear family and Friends!
This week has been such a blessing! I am just loving my mission more and more every single day. I have come to realize that after every hard experience there is a blessing. That is what happened this week.
Earlier this week it was a little rough but it has gotten better. The main reason why it was a bit on the tough side was because our investigator who keeps all her commitments but just won't be baptized. We extend a baptismal date of March 4th to her earlier this week, one that we had fasted and prayed about, which she accepted and even told us when she had prayed about it she had felt her "heart speed up". She knew that was her answer from god but when we went back over to finish up the last two principles she needed, she told us that she had a had change of mind and now does not want to be baptized...what?? Hermana Najera was with me and she asked her why. Maria told us that she simply wants to prepare more for baptism...and she thinks that she will get baptized in three months. Three months!! The Lord told her that she was prepared now! So Hermana Najera asked a great question, "What do you think the difference would be if you got baptized now instead of in three months?" She sat there for a second and then told us "nothing". We then invited her again and we read promises from the scriptures about baptism! We did everything! ...And she still believes that she will set her own date. So we are giving her a break.
That was extremely frustrating!
Also we had one of our other investigators on date for March 4th as well. He is so prepared but he couldn't meet with us at all this week because of conflicting schedules...so he will not be baptized on March 4th. That was also very frustrating.
We just felt like we were pushing but there was no break throughs. We also had to take our other investigator off date because she was not keeping her commitments.
And then Sunday came. Glorious Sunday! There were so many miracles just in that sacrament meeting alone. One of them being that we had two investigators at church. Geronimo and Roberto! And they enjoyed it so we are so excited for what this week is going to bring...the other is that...I got to see one of my trainers!!! Hermana Tor..I mean Milena...haha..came back and with her good news! One of the investigator I was teaching when I was in training messaged her over instagram! After she went home, and I got shipped to Elk Grove, we lost contact with him. That was probably the saddest moment of my mission but now I am I just overjoyed!! We were able to stop by his house and set up a return appointment...I am so excited to teach him again!
We also added some solid people to our teaching pool this week...which I will tell you about next week because I am out of time.
But now that I am loving my mission and there are miracles happening here and many more are coming.
Hermana Paredes
Monday, February 27, 2017
Monday, February 20, 2017
I almost got dragged onto the dance floor....as a missionary!!! 😱😱
Hola familia y amigos!!
We have had a crazy week this week but a very successful and good one as well.
First off exchanges
Exchanges work miracles...i testify of that. The last few times that we have had exchanges, people are either put on date or accept a conditional baptismal invitation. This past exchange I was with Hermana Leon (which it was so nice to be with her again) and we had the opportunity to teach an investigator who has been coming to church, reading, praying, keeping all the commandments but just will not commit to a day to be baptized. We talked to her about her concerns and she told us that she didn't feel ready yet. She wants to keep studying before committing to a specific date. Also she wants to wait for her boyfriend to be ready but he is not progressing at all right now so we talk about that with her and she ended up agreeing with us that it is about her own salvation right now since they are not married yet. We also talked about that the gospel is a continual learning process and everything she wants to know about the gospel would take years for her to study out. We asked her if she wanted to wait that long. She told us she didn't. She then told us that one of the members had told her that she could choose her own baptismal date whenever she feels ready... so that is why she has been waiting! Man, when I bore witness to her that we were called of god and that we had that authority to pray for a date for her baptism...I felt the power behind it. And I think she did too...because she told us "okay...I will be baptized whatever day that the lord tells you I need to be baptized."
Now that was a miracle. She is truly humbling herself before the lord just like it says in D&C 20:37. We believe that she is going to be ready really soon. We told her at we would be coming back this Tuesday to set a date for her. Hermana Woodbury and I are still seeking the lord's will for that date.
We also have Roberto that we are continuing to work with (our nine year old investigator). He is coming along slowly but surely. His situation makes a bit difficult to teach him but he does have that true desire. The good thing is that he comes to church every Sunday.
We also had a lesson with Esther, our investigator on date...and right now she is having some doubts about baptism. She is stuck on the fact that she was baptized as a child. We already used Moroni 8 to try and explain to her that children do not need baptism...she seamed to get it but when we went back this week she was still stuck on it so we tried resolving her concerns by explaining proper authority again. Nada (that means Spanish for nothing). Crazy thing is that she believes that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph smith was a prophet and that he had that authority from god! I am not sure what is holding her up. Keep praying for her. She really needs those prayers.
Omar, Paula, Kenia, and Geronimo are doing well. Omar, out of all of them, is the one that wants baptism the most but he feels like he needs to know more. Geronimo is interested in learning but when we asked him the question of baptism, he told us that he was already baptized...okay..but he came to our ward activity this past Saturday and he tried to come to church this past Sunday! Investigators can be so confusing....
Speaking of the ward party! It was so good!! We had two investigators come! And there was great food! And great dances! And super investigator friendly. There where tons of none members that showed up so we had so much work there. Very grateful for the members in this ward that are not afraid to invite their friends.
Funny story: one of our members invited is really really old guy who was just super sweet! There was a point in the party where everyone was dancing so we thought it would be a good point to go and talk to this guy since he was sitting down so we went up to him and introduced ourselves and he got really excited. He got out of his chair and grabbed Hermana Woodbury and my hands and began to drag us towards the dancing!! Ahhh! 😱😂 We tried to tell him that we couldn't since we were missionaries but he wasn't listening. He twirled us and then that is when our member came to our rescue. The old guy was so disappointed...he thought we were coming to dance with him... I felt so bad!! But it is a good story to tell.
Oh also there may have been a gas leakage or something in our apartment complex...because the whole fire department came one night...very interesting night.
One more thing...we think someone may have went all out for Valentine's Day...because there were two albino peacocks on the roof of their house!! What the world!
All and all, we have some really great investigators and we keep adding more great ones! We are very excited what this area is going to bring the next few days.
Love you all! Hermana Paredes
We have had a crazy week this week but a very successful and good one as well.
First off exchanges
Exchanges work miracles...i testify of that. The last few times that we have had exchanges, people are either put on date or accept a conditional baptismal invitation. This past exchange I was with Hermana Leon (which it was so nice to be with her again) and we had the opportunity to teach an investigator who has been coming to church, reading, praying, keeping all the commandments but just will not commit to a day to be baptized. We talked to her about her concerns and she told us that she didn't feel ready yet. She wants to keep studying before committing to a specific date. Also she wants to wait for her boyfriend to be ready but he is not progressing at all right now so we talk about that with her and she ended up agreeing with us that it is about her own salvation right now since they are not married yet. We also talked about that the gospel is a continual learning process and everything she wants to know about the gospel would take years for her to study out. We asked her if she wanted to wait that long. She told us she didn't. She then told us that one of the members had told her that she could choose her own baptismal date whenever she feels ready... so that is why she has been waiting! Man, when I bore witness to her that we were called of god and that we had that authority to pray for a date for her baptism...I felt the power behind it. And I think she did too...because she told us "okay...I will be baptized whatever day that the lord tells you I need to be baptized."
Now that was a miracle. She is truly humbling herself before the lord just like it says in D&C 20:37. We believe that she is going to be ready really soon. We told her at we would be coming back this Tuesday to set a date for her. Hermana Woodbury and I are still seeking the lord's will for that date.
We also have Roberto that we are continuing to work with (our nine year old investigator). He is coming along slowly but surely. His situation makes a bit difficult to teach him but he does have that true desire. The good thing is that he comes to church every Sunday.
We also had a lesson with Esther, our investigator on date...and right now she is having some doubts about baptism. She is stuck on the fact that she was baptized as a child. We already used Moroni 8 to try and explain to her that children do not need baptism...she seamed to get it but when we went back this week she was still stuck on it so we tried resolving her concerns by explaining proper authority again. Nada (that means Spanish for nothing). Crazy thing is that she believes that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph smith was a prophet and that he had that authority from god! I am not sure what is holding her up. Keep praying for her. She really needs those prayers.
Omar, Paula, Kenia, and Geronimo are doing well. Omar, out of all of them, is the one that wants baptism the most but he feels like he needs to know more. Geronimo is interested in learning but when we asked him the question of baptism, he told us that he was already baptized...okay..but he came to our ward activity this past Saturday and he tried to come to church this past Sunday! Investigators can be so confusing....
Speaking of the ward party! It was so good!! We had two investigators come! And there was great food! And great dances! And super investigator friendly. There where tons of none members that showed up so we had so much work there. Very grateful for the members in this ward that are not afraid to invite their friends.
Funny story: one of our members invited is really really old guy who was just super sweet! There was a point in the party where everyone was dancing so we thought it would be a good point to go and talk to this guy since he was sitting down so we went up to him and introduced ourselves and he got really excited. He got out of his chair and grabbed Hermana Woodbury and my hands and began to drag us towards the dancing!! Ahhh! 😱😂 We tried to tell him that we couldn't since we were missionaries but he wasn't listening. He twirled us and then that is when our member came to our rescue. The old guy was so disappointed...he thought we were coming to dance with him... I felt so bad!! But it is a good story to tell.
Oh also there may have been a gas leakage or something in our apartment complex...because the whole fire department came one night...very interesting night.
One more thing...we think someone may have went all out for Valentine's Day...because there were two albino peacocks on the roof of their house!! What the world!
All and all, we have some really great investigators and we keep adding more great ones! We are very excited what this area is going to bring the next few days.
Love you all! Hermana Paredes
Monday, February 13, 2017
Feliz dia de amistad y amor!! (casi!)
Hello family and friends,
HAPPY ALMOST VALENTINES DAY!!!!
Hermana Woodbury and I decided that we are going to be each others valentine! ;) haha!
This week was full of craziness and miracles and learning experiences!! We had exchanges this weekend, which were super fun, and I had the wonderful opportunity of going with Hermana Niemann and Barrera to some of our investigators. Those two together...wow...these poor investigators did not stand a chance. Hermana Barrera is currently in training and you can just see that fire in her eyes and more so in her testifying!! She is a very very good missionary. I was very impressed by her. I think the Sacramento Mission is going to be in good hands with all these new missionaries if they are at least slightly as good as Hermana Barrera. Truly did enjoy working with the two of them.
Hermana Woodbury went with Hermana Nokes but sadly Hermana Nokes has been sick for the last five days...nobody knows what is wrong (keep her in your prayers) so she didn't feel well enough to go out. Hermana Nokes is probably the best person to get sick on exchanges because she never looses her humor. I was able to stay with her for an hour while Hermana Woodbury went out with the other sisters to work a bit and I was dying of laughter. Quote from Hermana Nokes, "All I had for breakfast today was a piece of an apple and some Styrofoam." haha! (She was talking about the rice cake that she had to eat.)
I was very blessed to stay with her for that hour because she is also very good at listening and giving good council...I felt like that exchange was more for me then for her. Very blessed to know her.
Oh!! Before I forget, (I can't believe that I would forget this...) while I was with Hermana Niemann and Hermana Barrera. We had the opportunity to invite one of our investigators to baptism!! And she said yes! I then invited her to a specific date! And she said yes to that!! What the what! She told us that she would do everything to prepare for that day!!
We went home joyful until the next day....she messaged us over Facebook asking us "Do I need to get baptized? I got baptized when I was a baby." ......great..... haha! So tonight we will be going over there and explaining to her the reasons why we are baptized and such so that we can resolve her concerns. Honestly..I'm not to worried about it..but a prayer or two wouldn't hurt.
We also had Stake conference this weekend and a seventy came and spoke. His name is Elder Baxter and he said quite a few good things that I had been wondering about. Man I wish that I wasn't running out of time so I could tell you all about the revelation that I got!
Just know that I am learning everyday. The mission has gotten harder but I am growing stronger and I am growing in confidence. Probably the number one thing I have learned on the mission is that I can do hard things...actually with the grace of god, I can do all things. Stay in tune because I got a feeling that the next few weeks are going to bring a lot of hard learning experiences.
Hermana Paredes
P.S. I got to see my Patriarch!! Patriarch Severe! That made my whole week!
HAPPY ALMOST VALENTINES DAY!!!!
Hermana Woodbury and I decided that we are going to be each others valentine! ;) haha!
This week was full of craziness and miracles and learning experiences!! We had exchanges this weekend, which were super fun, and I had the wonderful opportunity of going with Hermana Niemann and Barrera to some of our investigators. Those two together...wow...these poor investigators did not stand a chance. Hermana Barrera is currently in training and you can just see that fire in her eyes and more so in her testifying!! She is a very very good missionary. I was very impressed by her. I think the Sacramento Mission is going to be in good hands with all these new missionaries if they are at least slightly as good as Hermana Barrera. Truly did enjoy working with the two of them.
Hermana Woodbury went with Hermana Nokes but sadly Hermana Nokes has been sick for the last five days...nobody knows what is wrong (keep her in your prayers) so she didn't feel well enough to go out. Hermana Nokes is probably the best person to get sick on exchanges because she never looses her humor. I was able to stay with her for an hour while Hermana Woodbury went out with the other sisters to work a bit and I was dying of laughter. Quote from Hermana Nokes, "All I had for breakfast today was a piece of an apple and some Styrofoam." haha! (She was talking about the rice cake that she had to eat.)
I was very blessed to stay with her for that hour because she is also very good at listening and giving good council...I felt like that exchange was more for me then for her. Very blessed to know her.
Oh!! Before I forget, (I can't believe that I would forget this...) while I was with Hermana Niemann and Hermana Barrera. We had the opportunity to invite one of our investigators to baptism!! And she said yes! I then invited her to a specific date! And she said yes to that!! What the what! She told us that she would do everything to prepare for that day!!
We went home joyful until the next day....she messaged us over Facebook asking us "Do I need to get baptized? I got baptized when I was a baby." ......great..... haha! So tonight we will be going over there and explaining to her the reasons why we are baptized and such so that we can resolve her concerns. Honestly..I'm not to worried about it..but a prayer or two wouldn't hurt.
We also had Stake conference this weekend and a seventy came and spoke. His name is Elder Baxter and he said quite a few good things that I had been wondering about. Man I wish that I wasn't running out of time so I could tell you all about the revelation that I got!
Just know that I am learning everyday. The mission has gotten harder but I am growing stronger and I am growing in confidence. Probably the number one thing I have learned on the mission is that I can do hard things...actually with the grace of god, I can do all things. Stay in tune because I got a feeling that the next few weeks are going to bring a lot of hard learning experiences.
Hermana Paredes
P.S. I got to see my Patriarch!! Patriarch Severe! That made my whole week!
Monday, February 6, 2017
Week two in Back to Sac
Hello Family and Friends,
It has been a super rainy week in Sacramento but we are enjoying it!
Sunday was probably my favorite day! I got to see all the members again and I was super surprised to see how many people actually remembered me! They actually remembered my name! Most frequent comments I got... "Wow, you can actually speak Spanish now!" and "Wow...you have gotten fatter"....thank you? haha!!!
Another cool thing is that there was an investigator who came this week that a month a go, I sent her as a referral to the Elders here....and she even remembered me! I met her at a less actives house in East Sac so it was so good to see her here.
We think that she will probably get baptized soon because she loved church. While her daughters wanted to go home to eat, she wanted to stay the full three hours!! SO cool! We are really excited for the elders.
Hermana Woodbury and I are hitting the pavement hard. We are doing everything in our power to find someone to put on date this month...and we have quite a few good options. There are three children from different less active families that are baptismal age so we are trying to get in contact with them and set up some appointments. Thus far...we haven't had any luck but we are still praying for that miracle.
We are working with quite a few people but we don't think any of them will be prepared for February...probably more in March. Solemn is one of them and we taught her how she could receive an answer through reading the book of Mormon and praying and then left her the commitment to read and pray about it...when we came back, she told us that she had done what we had asked her to but received no answer. That pretty much sums up most of our investigators. They keep commitments but are not receiving answers or not recognizing them. All of them want to be baptized but are not willing to commit to a date... yeah...it can be sort of frustrating sometimes but it is okay. We are just going to keep praying and working with them.
I really don' t have much to tell you all this week...sorry but I will try to find some good stuff to send next week!
Love you all, Hermana Paredes
It has been a super rainy week in Sacramento but we are enjoying it!
Sunday was probably my favorite day! I got to see all the members again and I was super surprised to see how many people actually remembered me! They actually remembered my name! Most frequent comments I got... "Wow, you can actually speak Spanish now!" and "Wow...you have gotten fatter"....thank you? haha!!!
Another cool thing is that there was an investigator who came this week that a month a go, I sent her as a referral to the Elders here....and she even remembered me! I met her at a less actives house in East Sac so it was so good to see her here.
We think that she will probably get baptized soon because she loved church. While her daughters wanted to go home to eat, she wanted to stay the full three hours!! SO cool! We are really excited for the elders.
Hermana Woodbury and I are hitting the pavement hard. We are doing everything in our power to find someone to put on date this month...and we have quite a few good options. There are three children from different less active families that are baptismal age so we are trying to get in contact with them and set up some appointments. Thus far...we haven't had any luck but we are still praying for that miracle.
We are working with quite a few people but we don't think any of them will be prepared for February...probably more in March. Solemn is one of them and we taught her how she could receive an answer through reading the book of Mormon and praying and then left her the commitment to read and pray about it...when we came back, she told us that she had done what we had asked her to but received no answer. That pretty much sums up most of our investigators. They keep commitments but are not receiving answers or not recognizing them. All of them want to be baptized but are not willing to commit to a date... yeah...it can be sort of frustrating sometimes but it is okay. We are just going to keep praying and working with them.
I really don' t have much to tell you all this week...sorry but I will try to find some good stuff to send next week!
Love you all, Hermana Paredes
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