Just remember....Jesus is awesome!

Hi family and friends,

 This week has been such a roller coaster....meaning it has had it ups and downs but honestly I am enjoying every single second!

 I have a few amazing experiences to write about and a few hard things. I'll start with the bitter first though that you all can enjoy the sweet.

 Bitter: we have had to drop almost all of our investigators. We went from having about 20 investigators to about five...and we are most likely going to have to drop two more. As a missionary that is really rough. Your whole life revolves around these people and it just pains you when they don't want to hear the wonderful news you bring or just would simply rather talk about other things .....it is really rough but sometimes it just have to be done. Our hearts honestly broke every time we hit the drop button on our area books but we are hopeful. There are so many prepared people in this area and by letting people go for a time just gives us more time to find those people. Honestly, I think it is a opportunity to exercise our faith and show the lord we are not just going to sit down and cry. I seriously can't wait to write next next weeks email because I know it is going to be full of miracles.

Sweet: Jose came to a temple tour and it was AMAZING! We brought this sweet old couple in our ward with us and they talked to him the whole time and answered all his questions. He was seriously really taken back by their kindness towards him and he loved every single moment of touring the temple. He kept saying things like "I feel nearer to god here." And "I just feel so much peace, it makes me not want to leave." There is a saying, you think you touch the temple but really the temple touches you. That is exactly what happened. Especially the fact that he had the opportunity to go inside and sit in the waiting room. I love it that you can just sit in the waiting room and there is a peace and a love that comes over you that you can't deny! Gosh I love temples! He is now working harder then ever to come to the temple someday through the gate way of baptism.

(Also when we invited him to be baptized August the 20th, he was like " I was seriously about to ask if I could get baptized that day because that is two days after my birthday!"........what?!)

Lorenzo

Lorenzo came to church again and this time he actually talked to the members! (Last time we couldn't get him to even say hello to them...he is a bit shy) He just keeps on telling us how much the church has changed his life already and how excited he is to be baptized. You can totally tell he means it because this past Sunday he got lost while driving to church but kept driving around until he found the building (with a little help from us). He was lost for 45 minutes but he still came! That is dedication! I know if that was me, I probably would have turned around and gone home but he stuck with it because he knew this is where he was suppose to be.

Also on the way back from church, there is always this guy on the corner who carries a Jesus sign and yells things into a microphone. So when we came to the stoplight, we rolled down our windows just to hear what he would say. He turns on his microphone and then boldly declares "Just remember...JESUS IS AWESOME!" At the time, it really made us laugh but now that I think about it. It has so much truth! He is so awesome! There is seriously no one who is awesomer! (Probably not a word but whatever) He that taketh up on him the sins of the world definitely deserves to be described as awesome. And I stand in awe of him...everyday I stand a little more in awe of him. I begin to love him even more and more as I preach about him and help other people truly see how amazing he is.

I know he lives. I know he loves us. I know he suffered and died for us. I know he would do it all over again if that meant to secure our eternal salvation. He is just wonderful to me.

I love you all and pray for you.
Hermana Paredes

Jose, Hermana Woodbury, Hermana Paredes

Las Hermosas Hermanas

For Sacramento and the north!

Hermana Leon, Hermana Woodbury, Hermana Paredes

Wow.......woooooowww.......WOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW I have never had a week like this before! 

We have seen so many miracles this week that it would be impossible to list all of them from this week! But I will try.

1. We got 9 new investigators this week....nine!! 😳 that never happened! Our district leader when he called us for follow up calls, he taught that we had accidentally reported our numbers wrong but when he found out that they were actually correct, he was like " WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU DO TO BRING FORTH SO MANY BLESSINGS?!" Spanish work + Sacrifice = super prepared people! And I testify to this truth! Haha!

2. We put one of our investigators on date and we have two more that said that they would be baptized! Amazingly prepared people! I don't know how else to describe it other than they were literally put in our path. I am honestly so humbled right now.

3. Our investigators have referrals for us. THAT IS SUCH SUCH SUUUUCH A BLESSING! Just to have investigators is a blessings but investigators who know more people we can teach.....wow....wow. Honestly it seams like the windows of heaven have been opened up. I'm not really sure how or why or what but I have never had this many people to teach...not in my whole six months on the mission. Especially extremely prepared people.

One of our investigators was seriously just place right in front of us. She was the last of the last of our backups. All of our appointments had fallen through that day so we had to keep adding people to see. As we were looking through our former investigators in our area book, there was one name that stood out the most out of everyones so we decided "why not" and went to go visit her.

We said a prayer in the car upon our arrival at her house, and as soon as we say amen this lady is walking towards the front door of the house. It sort of startled us because we had no idea were she came from. She had literally pulled up as we had been saying the prayer asking God to give us someone to teach. We hurried out of the car and introduced ourselves to her, which she in turn immediately invited us in.....that does not happen.

We ended up having s fantastic lesson with her. She had so many great questions, especially how we can tell if we are following a false prophet or not. But what really touched my heart is when she said "I just really am searching for the truth and I don't want to be led astray by false religions."

That made my heart swell so much! She is truly prepared and just so humble. She has a true desire to follow God and do the right thing. That is how you know someone is prepared to accept the gospel.
As we went through the restoration, she kept on saying things like " yeah, that makes sense."

Ahhhhhhhh! I just love teaching this gospel! Oh my gosh it just gives me goosebumps on my goosebumps to think that I get to help this women start her journey to eternal life. I absolutely LOVE it! We invited her to baptism and she said she would! Still need to set a specific date but I believe that it won't be a problem. :) I already love her so much.

This week I hit my six month mark. It is so weird....I swear I haven't been out six months. I swear I barely started! I just keep on learning more and more each day about how to be a better missionary and just a better all around person. The mission is seriously one of the best things that have ever happened to me. There have been so many tough points but that is what makes the beautiful points.

I find it incredible that God calls the weak and simple to do his work. It is just humbling to me how he trust his children enough to bring so many of his other children to salvation.
It's just...wow. I can't even put words to it.
I love you all!
I hope y'all have a great week!

Hermana Paredes

 Over and out.

Shot gunned 🔫

Wow....wow....wow (I swear all of my emails start with wow now. Haha!) I am getting whipped from one place to another....It is craziness!!! I am now in North Sac. We got the calls yesterday and my companion is now Hermana Woodbury! And just wow! So before I left my area, we had an amazing miracle. We were looking for a potential and instead came across their son. Started talking to him and he started to bible bash us a bit...I was like "uhh....nope! Not interested! Wasting our time." He even gave us a bible and told us to read.... -_- But Hermana Justiniano had faith. We kept talking to him and then he invited us to come back. He invited us to come back for the very next day! I was like great...but Hermana Justiniano was like GREAT!!! So we left him with a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet that that explained the whole restoration and the commitment to read them. Came back the very next day, and he had read both. It was like a completely different person! He was so reverent and asked so many good questions about the church...like he was sincerely interested. He kept agreeing with everything we were saying and kept saying things like "that totally makes sense! It all makes sense!" At the end we simply invited him to baptism and he in his words " of course I will be baptized!" Wooooooooooowwww I have never been so wrong about someone in my life. He is golden. He is going to be such a blessing to our elders. I hope I get to go back to see him baptized. Guess we will just have to see! So I have been transferred to North Sac.....soooooooo so different from Elk Grove! Apparently I am serving in one of the most ghetto areas in our mission! Yeah....I AM SO PUMPED! This will be my 3rd area in fourth transferred! Did not expect to serve in so many areas already. It is crazzzzzzyyyyy! Hopefully I will have more adventures to share next week! Especially with my new companion! She is so cute! I already love her!
Love you all,
Hermana Paredes
Over and out
P.S. One of the sisters that live in our apartment is training and her trainee is from Peru! Viva Peru para Siempre!!!

What???? Love the stars and stripes.  Happy 4th.

Arioso!! From the Rogers, AR
stake...from home!

Hermana Woodbury and I!

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!   

Cool Investigators and other stuff

Okay can I just say this....CALIFORNIA DRIVERS ARE CRAZY!!! WHAT THE HECK?! HAVE THEY NEVER HEARD OF BLINKERS???? I'm okay. I'm still alive but I have never had that many close calls in my life!! (It's okay Mom...breath) 

funny moment: So my companions name is Hermana Torres....and I may have introduced myself as Hermana Torres to a contact...oops. I guess I just have been hearing her name to much... :P

This past Sunday, my Branch's primary didn't have someone for music time or whatever they call it. So guess who got asked to help out with that...yours truly! Oh I love those primary kids! They were just great! I came up with actions and everything to remember the song, and which ever kid was quiet and reverent got to erase a word from the song on the chalkboard. They were AWESOME! :D

Spiritual: I love love love our investigator!!! I'm going to give him the name Edward for confidentiality issues. We were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and he was just soaking it in. Then his uncle came in and started to listen to the lesson. After a while the uncle began to question us and told us that we were false and being really rude to us...but get this! Edwin stood up for us!! He literally stood up for us! His uncle was telling us that we were false because we didn't worship the virgin Mary and such but he came back and started to tell his uncle that there was only one God and that worshiping and praying to the saints was against the commandments. We were dumbfounded!! Just in shock! We actually had to stop him from defend us and our beliefs because it was starting to become a heated argument. He is so ready for baptism!! He is just great!! He even told us a story of how he defended the book of Mormon to a Jehovah witness that was trying  to discredit it! Oh it was amazing! He started telling the witness all about Joseph Smith and how he was a prophet of God!! I Love him!!! We are so excited for him! He is just going to be a great member! 

I love you all.

Hermana Paredes 

Over and Out

Week two?! No way!!!

Week two?! There is no way that its week two!! Oh man I don't even know were to begin..

Okay so I went tracting this week.... it was raining cats and dogs! I also was carrying a twenty pound bag, and I got my first door slam!! Actually it was a really good experience and I have so much more respect for the English missionaries that have to do it all the time.

So my door slamming experience. We walk up to this pretty big house and because there was a potential that lived there so we thought for sure we were going to get a lesson in. A college aged guy answered the door and we introduced ourselves.  One of the sister asked him if he had a belief in Christ and he answered yes and she said "Well we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint and we have a message about Christ." He smiled at us and said "oh!" and then opened the door a little wider and I thought he was going to let us in. He then slammed the door and hard as he possibly could! We honestly just stood there in stunned silence for about 30 seconds and then we all began to laugh! We had all heard of doors being slammed on missionaries but had never had it happen! It was so crazy!!! I think that made me an official missionary! haha!

We have a lot of potentials but no investigators thus far but I still have hope! There is one guy that we are trying to talk to, who is actually genuinely interested, but he is just so busy so we haven't gotten a hold of him yet but trust me, we will!! I have been doing a lot of contacting (talking to people who are walking on the street or at stores and such) ! I actually like contacting a lot! The Latin people are always so nice and they are always willing to talk to us even if they are not interested. I'm so blessed to be a Spanish speaking missionary. Also my companions are awesome!! I love them so much! We have really grown and bonded! Also my apartment mates! Hermana Vergaray and Hermana Justinio. Hermana Vergaray is half peruvian as well!! She and I have bonded a lot. Also we are going to be having dinner with a Peruvian member this week!! Ahhhhhhhh!!! So excited for that!! Okay last freak out moment! Guess who is in my apartment complex...Sister Jessica Christoffersen!!! Oh I about cried when I saw her!! She looks great by the way for anyone who knows her and she sends her love!

I also send all my love and I stay tuned for next week,

Hermana Paredes, 

Over and Out! 

A photo of a photo of Sofia and Mission President and Sister Jardine