Weddings, awkward contacts, and trios...yeah it is a good life 😂

Hello family and friends,

 Honestly, I love the trio life....I LOVE IT!! We are having so much fun working together and it is so nice that we are all on the same page when it comes to missionary work! I love Hermana Scott and Hermana Zaugg...though we look like the mafia just came to town every time we knock on a door....haha!

 So we had a wedding this week for our investigator, Laura. Originally she was he other sister's investigator but when we combined our areas she became ours. Let me tell you...there is nothing like a Latino wedding...it is seriously the best. 😉The ward really pulled together to make her wedding perfect and worry free for her. Our relief society is amazing! They seriously have the best presidency. And Laura...oh! She is such a sweetheart and she looked gorgeous! I think she will be just fine in this branch. She also got her baptismal interview this last week so she is all set for her baptism on the 8th! We are all really excited for her because this has been something she has been looking forward to for a long time and it is finally going to happen. We are all really proud of this step that she is taking.

 We had so many awkward contacts this week...so many! Not really sure why but they sure do make some great memories. For example, we were going to knock on this one guys apartment and when we turned the corner we saw this guy waiting right outside the door we were going to knock...so of course we started talking to him, asking him if he lived there, if he had talked to missionaries before, all of that good jazz. He was pretty tight lipped and didn't give us many answers. I also noticed that he was dressed pretty nice and I kept wondering why...well I got my answer soon enough. The door opens to reveal a girl who is also dressed really nice and I could catch a whiff of perfume...that's when I put two and two together...they were about to head out on a date and he was on her doorstep to pick her up....and we were third wheeling! (Do you see what I did there, third wheel? Trio? 😉) oh so awkward! She was all like "alright I'm ready to go." And then she saw us. The guy quickly ushered her back into her house and then scurried in after her and shut the door. We just stood there. Not knowing what to do..... So we walked away. Haha!

 I love that on the mission you never know what is going to happen when you contact someone. Every time it is something new...and interesting. 😂

 Some thoughts from General Conference...so I don't have many because my companions and I had to keep running in and out of general conference to fix the tv that was broadcasting conference in Spanish but this is what I do have. I loved what Russell M. Nelson shared about joy and how having Christ as our focus is the only way we will truly have joy.

Also Robert D. Hales when he talked about if we love the savior more, we will suffer less. That is so true! I'm have come to know that if we always have our focus on the Savior our lives are just...better. It is like the formula for everything. Are you sad? Rely on the savior. Are passing for trials? Rely on the savior. Are you feeling lonely? Rely on the savior. Anything you need, want, hope for? Just rely on the savior. How often do we forget this. He is literally the solution to everything! I loved what Elder Quentin L. Cook said, "Jesus Christ is the Mark." I absolutely love that! He is the mark. The perfect example. He is everything. And finally one last thing...he knows us and he knows where we are and he does not want to lose us. I love how so much of this conference focused on coming back to the fold and talked about his invitation to repent and come and know him. What a beautiful thing repentance is and how merciful is Heavenly Father to give us something such as repentance. I couldn't imagine my life without this great gift and experiencing it. I know that my life wouldn't be filled with so much joy if I hadn't experienced the healing power of the atonement. It is truly amazing to me.

 What was everyone's insight on general conference? I'd like to hear it.

 Hermana Paredes

Facebook and all sorts of other craziness!

Dear family and friends..

 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! This week was insane! My brain is fried! We had so many crazy changes and met so many crazy people this week....I love the mission!

Here are a few funny stories from this week.

We added this sweet old lady as a new investigator but she is so confused. Hahah! We went back for our return appointment with her and tried to follow up with her about her reading in the Book of Mormon and came to realize she couldn't read the paper copy because the letters were too small. So we tried to help her download the gospel library app onto her smartphone but for some reason or another it wouldn't download, so she told us to wait a minute and then she wandered into another room and grabbed an iPad. The iPad was dead so she went to the other room again and grabbed a charger. Her eyesight must be really bad because the charger was totally wrong. It was so funny because she was standing there trying to plug the charger in but of course it wasn't working so she was getting a little frustrated...poor women. Haha! Of course I tried to inform her that it was the wrong plug but she kept on insisting that it had worked before. She is just so cute! After five minutes of trying her hardest, she finally gave up and we told her that we would get her a Book of Mormon in bigger print but it was so funny because Hermana Niemann was trying so hard not to laugh that her face was getting red. Oh I love my companion!

Next funny story takes place while we were tracting in this neighborhood. So there are several clues to finding a Spanish home, number one being "do they have Christmas lights strung up?". There was this house that had Christmas lights strung up so we knocked. To our surprise, a short Russian women answers the door. That kind of caught us off guard! But Hermana Niemann is an excellent missionary and immediately asks if we could show her a video about Jesus Christ in Russian. As soon as the words "Jesus Christ" come off her lips, the lady goes loco crazy! She is all like "JESUS IS FRIEND! Love Jesus! Amen! Amen!" And wringing her hands everywhere.

We were afraid she was going to give herself a heart attack by how excited she got! Finally we got her to calm down by saying "yes, Jesus is our friend too! We love him too!" and we tried again to show her the video but she played gestures with us till we figured that she was trying to tell us she was busy cooking so not right now. We respected that and said our goodbyes and then walked away. We are like a block down the road when we hear a voice behind us yelling "Girls! Girls!" and we turn around to see her running towards us waving a book in the air above her head. She gave both of us a book named the Life book and then pointed at it and said "Jesus! Friend! Your friend!" and then gave both of us a hug and then ran back to her house....well that was a first! Haha! Hermana Niemann and I skimmed through it and honestly it solidified my testimony more of the Book of Mormon and the church and how everything just is true. In this book, there was just so many confusing interpretations of Jesus Christ and God. I'm so grateful we have the Book of Mormon that solidly tells us truths.

Super spiritual moment: We had a lesson this past Sunday with Juan and his daughter, Fatima. They are amazing! Just super humble and super prepared! I don't think I ever told you all this but Juan is on date! For September 24th! And now we are working with Fatima to get her on date but this last lesson we had with her proved that she wants this. Even though she is an eleven year old girl....she wants this.

We were teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ which consists of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We focused a lot on baptism and ended up showing Fatima and her dad the baptism of Jesus Christ. (The bible video form). As soon as the video was done, I asked her what she had felt while watching that. She was quiet for a long time just really thinking about it, and then finally she said "I felt loved".....wow....I have never heard that response before. So many times I have heard peace or calm...but not love.

I then asked her why she thinks she felt love. Again she was quiet for a while (she really is a deep thinker) and then she said "because of everything he did for me and now he is showing me the way". Wow, I could of hugged her in that moment. She totally understands! She understands who the savior is for her! That is incredible! We had the opportunity to extend the baptismal invitation and she said yes immediately. And I know it is because in that moment she felt the savior's love for her.

So some of you may have noticed that I'm back on Facebook again! Our mission officially has permission to do online proselytizing. It is super weird! We got on them this week to clean them out and it brought back so many old memories and some of the things that I miss about home. To be completely honest.... It was rough and it was so easy to become distracted while cleaning it out but as soon as I remembered my purpose, the spirit came back and then I could see how marvelous this tool is! I think it is amazing that the lord is using something such as face book to hasten his work and I am super grateful for this opportunity to use it! What an incredible blessing!

So as you can see there are so many miracles and so many adventures happening here. It I such a blessing to serve the lord in such this short time. It really is just a short time. What a blessing.

I love you all,
Hermana Paredes
Over and out.