Bringing in the Seven!

Hola familia y amigos!

 We had one of the coolest week! Oh it has been so great!

 First off, our investigator, Juan, got his baptismal interview this week and of course he passed with flying colors! Oh we are so excited for him. Though we were a little bit worried this past Sunday because he didn't show up to church and he wasn't answering his phone....scary. Turns out he went out to his car Sunday morning to drive to church to find that his battery of his car was dead. Nothing he did could get it jumpstarted....arggggghhhhh! Satan is definitely at work but Hermana Niemann and I are working harder. He is totally not going to win.

 Also another story with Juan! Hermana Niemann and I were trying to get out of our dinner appointment so that we could get to our investigator's appointment. We even had a member, Lorenzo, meeting us at Juan's house but the member kept talking and talking. Strangely enough Hermana Niemann and I were pretty peaceful about out it. By the time we were actually able to leave the appointment, we were 15 minutes late. We quickly sped over to our appointment and then looked around the apartment complex to find Lorenzo. We couldn't find him anywhere! So we finally gave up and decided that we would just have to go to Juan's. We knocked the door and to our great surprise, Lorenzo opened it! They had been sitting at the table just talking and getting to know one another! That was an answer to a prayer! Juan had been telling us that the number one thing he was finding difficultly with was finding friends at church but know he has one really good friend. And you can tell that they are really good friends because during the lesson they kept on cracking inside jokes!!! Oh my gosh! It was amazing! The spirit was so strong with those two! I swear, Lorenzo is the best member missionary ever! For example at the end of the lesson, Juan was telling us of some of the struggles he faces and before Hermana Niemann or I could open our mouths, Lorenzo began to bear a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon! He told Juan that if he ever feels sad all he has to do is read the Book of Mormon! "It just makes me feel better anytime I read this book. It brings me peace!" I love my recent convert.

 So this week we got seven new investigators! And I'm going to share with you a miracle...

 Hermana Niemann and I had had a very long day without much success so we were about to just head to our last back up and it wasn't even eight yet... Plus the backup was a member. We were pretty bummed especially since that morning we has been praying really hard to find the lord's elect and we felt like we had seen much success. We were driving to our members house and out of the corner of my eye, I see this guy fixing his truck on the side of the road. I didn't think much of it and kept driving, but then I got the feeling that we should turn back and talk to him. My thoughts were, " well...we got nothing to lose!" So I flipped a U turn. Hermana Niemann was so confused and she was said "Wait! What are we doing?" "We are going to go get us a new investigator" and that is exactly what we did. Turns out this guy had visited to missionaries before...when they were Elders. That was a long time ago! He said he had always wondered why they had stopped visiting him. When I asked him if he would be interested in having missionaries con over again, he got really excited and said yes! He even said "I still have that book that they gave me! The Book of Mormon!" Oh we are really excited about him. Best part...he has a family! Three cheers for family! Whoop! Whoop!

 Okay one more miracle lesson. So we went back to one of our new investigators house because we had missed our appointment with her due to Hermana Niemann's throat swelling up. (Not really sure if I told you all that story or not.... 🤔) When we knocked on her door, she was like "come in! Come in!" She told us that she has been reading the book we left her, the Book of Mormon! She had so many questions and we were able to teach her the restoration but what really caught her was the bible and the fact hat so many plain and precious things had been taken away. She to,d us that she had always wondered that. She especially got excited about the restoration of the priesthood! She said that she had been studying in the bible about the priesthood and the power of God but had always wondered what happened to it! She is just so prepared but the most interesting thing was when we were trying to show her a scripture in Moroni, she freaked out! She said that in her grandpas bible, there was the book of Moroni, 3 Nephi, and Ether. Weird right. So we are going to have to do a bit of re-explaining to her because now she thinks the Book of Mormon is the missing book from the bible...oops! Well she is still a really cool investigator. 😅

 Funny story: as missionaries, we need a backer anytime we back out of a parking spot. Hermana Niemann was backing me out of my spot and this guy was just staring at us. Hermana Niemann turned to him and said "we have to do it." He just looked at her and replied "It is okay, everyone has got to learn at some point" and then he gave me a thumbs up and shouted "Good job!" Bahahahahaha! He thinks I'm learning how to back up! Hahahaha! It was so funny! We had a good belly laugh! Sweet guy! 😂

 Well, I think that is all! Next week is transfer week so I will be emailing Tuesday.

 Love you all!

Hermana Paredes

No longer a trainee

I apologize in advance because this is probably going to be the longest email I have written thus far. 

Okay so I have been transferred, which is the missionary term for I moved Areas for those of you who are not familiar with the missionary lingo. I am now not part of the Sacramento zone, I'm part of the Elk Grove Zone.....super wierd! My new companera is Hermana Justiniano and she is from Argentina! I love her already. We actually knew each other before we became companions because we lived in the same apartment and we always had the feeling that we were going to be companions at one point or another. HA! We were right!

So this past week was an interesting one because most of the week we were helping Hermana Torres get ready to go home. It was probably the longest and fastest week I have had on my mission thus far....it was so weird. For some reason I felt like I was living through Hermana Torres. The closer we got to her departure date, the more I felt like I was the one going home!! HAHA! The day arrived were we had to drop her off at the Mission office and we were just so excited for her! She looked gorgeous!! Just the picture of a returned missionary. It was crazy! It didn't seem real at all! We kept laughing and joking all the way to the door of the mission office and then it hit me. This was the last time I would see her as a missionary and as my trainer. Honestly I felt like the time unpacking her bags from the trunk and pulling it into the office went by so fast...and then I had to say goodbye. That was a tough one. I had gotten so close to this amazing women and it just tore my heart to have to say goodbye, but I knew it was her time to leave. I love her with all my heart and I am glad she is safely home and with her family again. She was everything I needed in a trainer and I have defiantly grown from being her companion. She is defiantly the type of missionary I want to be.

 After we dropped of Hermana Torres, we went to an appointment with one of our less actives. Quite honestly we were exhausted and just trying to get through the rest of the day. The main issue with this less active is that we have been trying for weeks to get her and her children to church. They haven't come back to this point. Our plan was to try and get her to do the fundamental things first such as prayer and scripture study so we were going to talk about prayer with her and commit her to pray everyday so we quickly said a prayer and then walked into the women's house. I will admit it! I had very low hopes for this lesson because I felt like we had had the same discussion with her a million times over and we weren't seeing any progress but I knew we had to try again anyways. I half halfheartedly knocked on the door and the door just swung open. She quickly invited us in and immediately had us sit. Then she plopped herself in the coach directly in-front of us.

I was a little surprised because she seamed really eager and I really wasn't sure why. We made small talk and then Hermana Steven's asked her to offer a prayer. She said "of course!" (in spanish) and then started to pray. In the middle of praying she started to cry. Honestly I had no idea what was going on because she seamed fine a minute ago and now she was crying.

She closed her prayer and started to immediately apologize. She said that the reason she was crying was she because she had felt peace. In her own words "I always feel that peace when you missionaries come." And my heart softened. I began to feel that love for her that our heavenly father has for her. She has begun again to open her heart and because she choose to open it again we were able to testify of Heavenly Father's love and the Savior's love for her. Hermana Steven's was inspired to share this fantastic scripture about prayer that just filled the room with the spirit. She bore witness of how prayer could draw us closer to our heavenly father and we could find that peace in our lives when we are close to him. It kind of funny but sometimes I feel like the teacher and other times I feel like the student. In this occasion I felt like the student and I felt the Holy Ghost teaching me as well as teaching this sweet Hermana through Hermana Steven. My testimony was strengthened about prayer. It was such a sweet lesson.

We said good bye to this sweet member and right as we walked out the door, it began to hail! Hail! Our car was parked on the road and not near the appartments at all. So I looked at Hermana Stevens and just said "Well, shall we run?" And that is exactly what we did! We quickly got to our car and slammed the door and at the exact same time, we sighed, which made us look at each other, which made us laugh! We looked like drowned rats!! It was so bad! We probably smell like one too! Worst part..we had another appointment. Our house was a good 16 miles away or so, so there was no changing for us. Hahah! We drove to the Francos home, hopped out out, and ran again. They live in a gated apartment complex and most of the gates are always locked so we had to try three different gates that were around the perimeter before we ran through the gate, where the cars came in, just as it was closing! It was such an adventure!

We quickly maneuvered through the apartments until we found theirs and what a sight we must have been! Haha! Two very soaked missionaries!! They basically pulled us in and wrapped us in towels and had us sit down as Hermana Franco made hot chocolate. She then went into her room and found us some clothes to wear and would not let us leave till we had changed out of our wet clothes. It was ridiculous! I ended up wearing a black skirt with a Planet Fitness t-shirt with a white sweater underneath. Haha! Very cute! We taught them a quick lesson about temples because they are getting prepared to be sealed for all time and all eternity in the Lord's holy house and it was such a sweet lesson! We truly love those two. Hermana Franco is the sweetest. She made sure that we drank all of our hot chocolate before she let us leave and then she made sure we took her umbrella. Absolutely love her!!

The setting sun was just beautiful on our way back. It was lightly raining and we were just cursing down the highway while listening to good music, when all the sudden I felt a rush of gratitude. I was just so grateful to be a missionary! In that moment it just filled my whole body and filled me with warmth and the spirit. I know that I have always said I love being a missionary but I can honestly say, without a doubt, being a missionary is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Being a missionary isn't just a calling. It so much of who I am now. I love getting lost in the work! I love these people I get to teach! I love the people I serve around! Most of all, I love telling people about my savior and the great plan of happiness that we can all partake of. This has been probably the toughest four months of my life. I have been tempted to go home, but now I realize that is no other place I want to be at this time the in the Sacramento Mission.

If there are people who are reading this and are considering going on a mission. My best advice. Do it! There is no better thing you can do then bring others to Christ. If there are people who are reading this that have already served their mission or are past that time, I still say there is no better thing you can do then bring others to Christ. Be the best member missionary you can be and serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength.

My time is up. I love you all and stay in tune for my adventures cleaning the Elders appartement...yeah not cool! haha! > > Hermana Paredes > Over and Out

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!   

We get chased by the Middle Schooler Bicycle Gang....

Hi Everyone! 

 So I have a bit of explaining to do....We had transfers this week so that is why I didn't write an email Monday. Our P-day got changed to Tuesday so every six weeks expect an email on Tuesday instead of Monday.

Okay, bicycle gang story! So we were out contacting (meeting people who are walking on the street and sharing the message of the Restored Gosple) and we came up on a group of middle schoolers with some elementary schoolers (ages 4-13) who were sitting on their bikes. We were in a rush to an appointment so we didn't stop to talk to them but one of them shouted at us,because they saw that we were in skirt,and said "Who are you guys?!" I shouted back "We are the missionaries!" "The mission-what?!"  "Missionaries!" So we fly past them and then I hear from behind us the clicking of bicycle chains so I turn around and I see the whole herd following us! Haha! They kept shouting "Hey wait up!" and "Come on! Lets follow them!" Pretty soon more and more began to join the group! I swear we had all the kids in that neighborhood racing after us! I mean like there were literally kids running after us!! IT WAS CRAZY!!! Eventually Hermana Torres stopped and we showed the Easter video. (If you haven't seen it, you HAVE too!) They were all so friendly and asked a lot of questions about Christ and our church. We ended up giving all of them a pass along card and committed them to show their parents this video! They happily agreed to do it! SO cool!! I wish I had gotten a picture with them but we didn't have enough time.

Funny story: So we did a bit of tracting Sunday and we knocked on this one door. Normally when someone answers the door, we tell them that we are missionaries from the church of....(you get the picture) and then we ask them their name by using Senor or Senora. We do this because most of the people we contact are Latino...except for this case. Hermana Torres knocked and this women answered. These are Hermana Torres exact words... "Hi we are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What is your name ladyyysir?" I'm sure Hermana Stevens and my eyes bulged and my first thoughts were "If there was any chance before..there is no chance now." Thank goodness she was nice and just politely declined. Oh man I thought we were going to get yelled at! Hahah! Ladysir! :D 

Edwin is doing good! He is slowly but surely progressing! We absolutely love him! Sadly he is having a hard time getting to church. There is a lot going on in his life right now but we have high hopes for him. We picked up six new investigators this week! SIX!! WOW!! Most of them were contacts! We met this great old couple who basically told us that they are looking for the true church and they are GOLDEN! To bad we didn't have much time to talk to them this week but I am praying that next week we will set a baptismal date for them! Oh I wish I had enough time to tell you about all of our contacts but sadly I don't so I will just tell you about our miracle contact. 

MIRACLE! We had a miracle lesson! We were over at one of our members home for dinner and then we saw, through the window, one of our investigators talking to a nieghbor. Hermana Magana is the best! She goes and opens the sliding door and invites both of them to come and have dinner with us! They both happily came over because who wouldn't take up the offer of free food! We then got talking to the neighbor and just talked about life which switched over into religion... with a little help from Hermana Magana. (I just love her! Can I tell you how much I love her! Oh she is the best!) We took that as our sign to share our message. We showed him the bible video "To this end was I born" and then we shared with him some scriptures from Mathew 27...and wow! WOW! The spirit was so strong! But then Hermana Torres and Hermana Stevens come in like a wrecking ball and the spirit was undeniably there! As I was listening to them bear their testimonies, I felt a prompting to talk about baptism so as soon as they were done, I began to talk about how one of the gifts that God has given us is baptism and this is how we can follow Christ and thank him for his matchless gift of atoning for us...then the words just popped out of my mouth. I invited him to baptism. He was quiet for a minute so Hermana Torres reinvited him. That is when he said "yes". HE SAID YES!!! It was a miracle! He is still unsure about the date and he still has some concerns but that is okay because that is what we are here for! We insured him that we would help him a hundred percent to be prepared for baptism!! He is getting baptized May 7th!!! A MIRACLE!!!  It just astounds me how the spirit can change someones heart...just like that! 

I love it here! Honestly there is no place I would rather be then serving the Lord in Sacramento California

I love you all! <3

Hermana Paredes

Over and out