tidings of great joy

WOW! I can't believe it is Monday already! This week went by crazy fast! I am just so amazing by how fast the time flies by...probably because we are always so busy. :P

 Well hello Family and Friends!

This week is has been pretty great! I am seriously enjoying every moment here in the mission...I still can't believe that it is December already! WHERE DID THE YEAR GO?!?!

 So basically our week consisted of so many meetings and Sister Training leaders things we hardly had no time to work in our own area! But we still had some amazing miracles.. :) Saturday was basically the only day that we had to proselyte in our area and WOWOWOWOWO!!!! WE talked to SOOOOOO many people! We have this thing in our mission called park your car day, were all the missionaries have to park their cars and ride bikes the whole day. The whole idea is to get us talking to more people. The past two Saturdays have been full of rain and cold but this Saturday was gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful! (Blessing number one from our heavenly father) And we everyone we met were super friendly and actually open to hearing our message! (Blessing number two) AND we got two new solid investigators just from Saturday alone!!! YEAHHH! (Blessing number three). They are really really cool. One of them at first wanted nothing to do with us but then she told us that her niece got recently baptized and I just happened to know her niece from my last area! She opened up a lot to us after that. She began to tell us how she had searched into a lot of different churches but was struggling to know how to find the truth....well...we can help with that! :) We ended up setting up a return appointment and left her with a promise that this was an answer to her prayers. Now that I think about it, our appointment is tonight! I'm super excited to teach this sweet spirit.

 We also contacted someone else in the same apartment complex who apparently use to be a former investigator. She too at first was not interested but we saw that she was struggling to carry her groceries in so we offered to help and she opened up to us. Isn't service the best? We ended up getting to know her a lot more and she told us how she was here alone in the united states and how she missed her kids down in Honduras. She also told us about how most of her family members have passed away and how she is not exactly sure if there is an afterlife. Perfect teaching moment! My lovely companion shared with her a few points about the plan of salvation and then I had the opportunity to testify to the truths that she stated. The spirit was so strong in the room and before Lourdes was half listening but now we had her full attention. Could totally tell she was feeling it. We asked her if she would be interested in learning more about this message and she gave us a solid yes. We have an appointment with her on Saturday! Whoop! whoop! :)

 The Lord is truly blessing us here in East Sac, and not just us but the Elders as well. According to Hermana Nokes, the elders haven't had investigators at church for the past three transfers. WELL.....they had one come this week. Actually, they have had three in the past two weeks and one really solid one named Jose! He is super super awesome! Comments in gospel principles, loves what we teach....he even stayed after church to practice the song we are going to be singing as a ward in our Christmas program! He just fits right in! We are super excited for the Elders!

 So for meetings, we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council), Team ups with the other Hermanas, and Zone Training. Zone Training is always super stressful but it always turns out good. Hermana Nokes and I were assigned to train on Joy and Goals and we had planned out about 20 minutes to do....well the Zone leaders went a little bit over with their training and left us about five minutes....GREAT! We ended up trashing our original plan and just depending on the spirit. IT. WAS. CRAZINESS! But we got it done! President was also there for our Zone Training and when he gave his closing remarks, he said that we summed up perfectly what he had taken him a whole hour to train the leaders on at MLC! Talk about compliments from President! :) He even said that we should do the training for next MLC! (ha..haha...noooooooo thank you!)

 He is really great. :)

 But I think the biggest thing I learned from this week was actually from our training (Funny how when you are preparing to teach others, you end up learning something yourself). As I was studying about joy, I realized a few things. First, joy is a choice. Sometimes we mistakenly think that Joy is the consequence of a choice we make but actually it is quite the other way around. Joy is the choice we make. There is something that Elder Russell M. Nelson said in this last general conference that I just love. He said "My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." So very true. I just think about the many times I have had to walk or ride my bike in the rain or deal with difficult members or investigators, or even the time our car tire popped and we were stranded for a good two hours or so and I felt complete joy! I felt so joyful during all of these circumstances. It is so empowering to know that joy is a choice.

 Second, I feel the most joy when I am fulfilling my purpose. Hard work is a really good source for joy! I remember how many times I wasted so much time back home and hours later, I would look back and feel totally unfulfilled. I think the reason I feel so joyful out here is because I am actually fulfilling something. I have a purpose. A goal. It is wonderful.

 Third, the source of all joy is Jesus Christ. It is because of him that I can even feel joy! I am seriously so grateful for this time of year and that we have the opportunity to celebrate his birth. What a wonderful way to worship him... I love you all, Hermana Paredes

Hermanas Paredes and Nokes

Rely on Grace

Okay this is going to have to be a really fast email but a summery of this week is that I had to rely a lot on the Savior's grace to make up everything I lacked.

 Basically I got called to be a new leader like a week ago, then I went to a training with the other leaders and the mission president, and then I was expected to turn around and train the other missionaries. I already get stage fright so I was terrified out of my mind!! I seriously in the planning session for the zone training and I realized I had no idea what I was doing! And then the time came around to fast and I just about froze up and died when it was my turn to speak. I kept giving my companion silent SOS signs with my eyes and she got the hint and jumped in and helped. I kept feeling so inadequate and so helpless because I seriously had no idea how to train a bunch of missionaries let alone be a leader. My heart and mind were just being overwhelmed by this feeling of desperation and sinking when all of the sudden a peace fell over me and a thought came to my head, "You may not have this but I do, trust me." And all the fear left. It came around again for my turn to speak and I found that my mouth was filled. My heart was so full it felt like it was going to burst. I love the power of the atonement and how it makes up for everything that I lacked. It was kind of amazing that the spirit wasn't pulling random words and putting it in my mouth to say but rather he was pulling from different experiences I had had and ideas. He was basically enhancing me. I found that to be such a tender mercy. The lord is really aware of us and our needs and in his infinite mercy, he reaches out his hand and guides us along.

 Everything that has happened this week has really taught me a lesson is one way or another. For example, we were knocking doors and we accidentally knocked the door of another religions missionaries...or maybe it wasn't an accident. For missionaries, these type of missionaries can be really tough because they know their bible inside and out (something I really admire about them) but they also like to use it a lot to bible bash. Most missionaries usually walk away discouraged but I am grateful for every encounter we have with these missionaries because every time they strengthen my testimony. This particular encounter, she was trying to argue with us about the perfect government and she pulled out Daniel 2:44 which talks about god will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. I nearly laughed out loud because we know through modern day revelation that that scripture is about the true church of Christ! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I just love that the scripture that she was trying to use to prove us wrong, was actually proving us right. It prophesied of a church that would be built up and that would never be destroyed and that it would go out to all the world...well it was kind of standing in front of her. Living proof of that prophesy! We are missionaries for that church that is God's Kingdom on earth that will never be destroyed, and we are spreading it to all of the world. So she was basically trying to destroy the church that God himself had said that would never be destroyed. Kind of ironic right? Man I love modern day revelation and even though we did not even get a word in, I am so grateful for that experience. I had been looking for an experience that would help me build my faith and that did just the trick.

 We also had many lessons this week were the spirit was really working with us. There was was one lesson in particular that really built my faith. It was with this lady named Juana and she is someone who had not been keeping her appointments or her commitments. We were kind of at this point that we felt like it would be better to just release her so we went into this lesson with that mentality. Kind of funny how this lesson went from being a release lesson to a spirit filled lesson about the Holy Ghost. Somehow we got talking about the spiritual experiences that she and her husband had had in their lives. For example, her first communion...she had felt something warm fill her, and for him, every time he prays he says that he feels an overwhelming peace. We were able to witness to them that this was the Holy Spirit that witness of truth and that if they truly searched out this message, they would feel his influence again in their lives. So we recommited them to read the Book of Mormon and then to ask Heavenly Father if this message was true. They said they would so I really hope that they do.

 I am so grateful for this church and for living day prophets. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the convincing power it contains! There is seriously nothing more beautiful then this gospel! This is truly the true church of god and it is our right and our privilege to make it know to the world.

 I love you all,

Hermana Paredes

 P.S. We biked 18 miles this past Saturday...I am so saddle sore!!

First sister AP?! (clickbait)

Hola amigos y familia,

 So.....I received a call this this past Tuesday....and I have been called to be the first sister Assistant to the President...JK! I've been called to be a Sister training leader.... Still in shock and it is a week later. I still have no idea what I am doing but I am sure that I will get the hang of it soon! Haha!

 On top of that I have also been transferred. This week was kind of on the sad end. I had to say a lot of goodbyes to people I had grown to love so much, especially my recent converts. The both of them are amazing. Juan is just plowing through the Book of Mormon and is growing in his faith in Jesus Christ. Lorenzo is blooming under the influence of the gospel and he is one of our most active members. Also this past Sunday he got up and bore his testimony during sacrament meeting....I totally bawled like a baby. I was crying so much that the little girl sitting in front of me turned around, took one look at my face, and said very loudly, "Mom, she is crying!" Haha! She is so cute! She got me a tissue and all. Sweet girl.

 I'm going to miss North Sac so much. This was probably one of the hardest areas to leave because it was the one that I've stayed the longest in and it has all of my recent converts but I have perfect confidence that Hermana Zaugg and Hermana Scott will take good care of them and the area. Plus I will be back for Daniel's baptism! Whoop! Whoop! They stayed together and now I am in East Sac with Hermana Nokes. She is a doll! I love her! She just makes everyone laugh when she is laughing...and trust me she laughs a lot.

 I'm definitely going to miss my sweet companions. We all got along so well and I grew so much with them. Probably the most of laughed ever! But it will be alright. I'm excited to start this new adventure. Hopefully I will have more to tell you all next week!

 Love you all!

❤️ Hermana Paredes