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

There is a first time for everything.....right?

Hi family and friends! So there is just so much I want to to put in this email but probably just won't have the time to do it so I'm going try write a bit of everything by a day to day play.

 Monday: rough! Super rough! We had our p-day and then headed out to work....I swear we were working in the desert or something because
A) it was super super hot...like as in the back of my knees were sweating (didn't even know that was possible!)
 B) no one was outside to contact or at home! It was like everyone had disappeared. Went to hibernate or something. So we didn't get a lot of lessons in and we think that we are going to have to drop one of our investigators. :(

 Tuesday: Service day! This day was super cool because we got to find a less active member who had not to been to church in over 40 years! Fourty! Dang! We just had the opportunity to listen to her speak and testify of her fathers love for her. It was very touching! We are pretty sure she felt the spirit because she started to cry.
I love talking about Heavenly Father's love for his children.

On our back from her house there was a huge hold up near a bus stop. Cars kept in on changing into the left lane and we were so confused about what was going on. Then we see this little old black man in a wheel chair going as fast as he can against opposing traffic. He was about a block and a half away to the bus stop and we realized he was trying to make the bus!

Many people were just walk or driving passed him without a second look as he struggled. And this is why I love Hermana Woodbury. She turned to me and said " we should help him." I replied " well let's park this car then!" We parked it and then ran out to push him the last bit of his journey.

It was super awesome! I'm so grateful that we got that opportunity to serve.

Wednesday: We went to go see one of our new investigators, V, and honestly I wasn't to sure about him because the last time we spoke to him....he was a bit....well...flirty! Like asking us if we could have boyfriends and such... 😑 yeah no. But we went back anyways, and man! I am so glad we did! V is the best! We had an amazing first lesson with him and LET me tell you....the spirit defiantly guided that one. If it weren't for the spirit and inspired questions, we would have never found out that he didn't know much about his savior.

We showed him the bible video "For God so loved the world" and in the middle of watching it, he started to tear up. At the end we asked him what he had felt. He told us that he had felt something warm and strange when he was watching the video, like he felt guilty for putting Christ through so much pain. Wow! Just the perfect opportunity to testify of the spirit!

We have super high hopes for him! Just very humble and now is defiantly more interested in our lessons more then us. Thank goodness!!

 Thursday: Hermana Woodbury hit her nine month mark so we went to celebrate by eating at Chilies and we stuuuuuffffed ourselves! So full! And then we went to a member's house whose parents are currently staying with her. They are not members but the love the missionaries and we were hoping to get them interested in learning.

Something that we forgot though is that they also love to FEED the missionaries....a lot! So we go there and they had made empanadas for us. Both of us are thinking "crap...". We tried to ask to just bring them home for later but they looked so sad.

You see the thing about Latinos is that they love to see you eat their food! It seriously brings them joy! So since we love our members so much and we want to see them happy, we agreed to eat one empanada. And that one empanada did me in....I seriously was about to throw up and I think I might have been turning a little bit green because our sweet member quickly ran and grabbed me a bucket and had me hunch over it because apparently someone was using he bathroom at the time.

Something I forgot to mention is that before we walked into this members house, I had told Hermana Woodbury "Hermana Woodbury, I feel a miracle about to happen!"

So as I'm here hunched over this bucket, she says to me "do you still feel that miracle coming up?" Oh my sweet sassy companion!

Long story short, I ended up in the bathroom puking my guts up...hey there is defiantly a first to everything...right?

 Friday: basically just weekly planning and trying to find someone to teach. Not much success... :( 

Saturday: WE HAD TWO AMAZING LESSONS! First one was with this guy named Jose! He is so great. We had talked to him the previous Saturday and found out that he actually had a Book of Mormon and had been wanting to know a little bit more about it so we set up a return appointment and WOOOOOOWWW! He basically led the lesson! He just was picking everything up and understood everything! His questions were on point! Gosh! Everything was on point.

He told us that he had never done this before. Investigated a church because he has never felt comfortable with any one of them but he told us "I feel a connection to this church...it is like I was searching but never really realized that I was actually searching!" Wow! He even committed to baptism!.....wow! Like seriously, he is beyond prepared! I'm so excited to teach him! We actually have a lesson with him today! Ahhhhhh!

 Lesson two was with Lorenzo! We taught about the Sabbath day because we have been trying for about three weeks to get him to church but after this lesson he finally committed. He even asked us to meet him so that we could guide him to church Sunday morning! Wow! That is amazing progress! We were so excited!

 Sunday: we showed up at Lorenzo's work and he was dressed in his Sunday best! He hopped into his car and started to follow us to the church. Hermana Woodbury and I kept looking back to make sure we didn't lose him....BECAUSE WE WERE NOT GOING TO LOSE HIM! We made it all the way to the church and stayed with him through all three hours! He loved it! He has plans to come back next Sunday.

 Also we ate two different cakes at two different peoples houses because it was Elder Ackley's birthday...it was good....I have no regrets...😏 So that was basically my week! We are being incredibly blessed in this area!......
I LOVE BEING ON A MISSION!

 Hermana Paredes

Over and out

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.

We be balling....

Hey family and friends, So first off I would like to apologize for the any panic I may have caused with my last email title...maybe choosing "shotgunned" as my title wasn't the wisest choice... also the fact that I forgot to explain what it meant in my last email. haha! Okay, here is what it means. When two missionaries become companions and get put into an area that they have never been in before. No, I did not literally get shot.... I only got shotted into a new area which I don't know anything about. Two totally different things! Okay now that I got that out of the way, I'll tell you a little bit about my week.

HERMANA WOODBURY AND I ARE FINDING MACHINES!! We are totally rocking this area! Since we have been here, we have found about nine people who want to be taught! Sure some of them we had to refer to the English Elders but hey! We are all part of the same team, moving towards the same goal. So the best part about our new area is that we can bike in it!! Which means lots of contacting! I have totally become rusty on my contacting skills. Probably because in my last area all we had to contact was the cows....Wilton...Haha!

But seriously, my first contact here was a train wreck! Not a pretty sight. It was so horribly ugly that it could be describe as really similar to one of those scenes in the movies where you are actually embarrassed for the character and you just pray that the agony will end! The guy who I contacted and I basically just stared at a each other in silence while I tried to recall my social skills.....suuuuuppppper rustly! Thank goodness it is not that bad anymore! haha! Hermana Woodbury is just amazing! Her teaching skills, contacting, spanish....all of it!! She is just a amazing missionary! She honestly makes me look good.... B) haha! I love love love having her as a companion. I can always feel the spirit so strong when I teach with her and we always seem to be on the same wave length. (Also she is the best exercise and diet buddy. She told me that she wanted to try this smoothie diet thing and we have been keeping each other in check. haha! It actually is kind of fun! )

 Something I have learned this week...WELL...every week, I feel like I learn something new about the atonement and Jesus Christ. Probably my favorite part about being out on a mission is how I get to see the atonement affect people's lives little by little. How their countenances start to change and they seem to fill more with light. It is a beautiful thing to witness. I especially see it in one of our investigators, L. Everytime he meets with us, he tells us how much he loves reading the book of mormon. He always says "that book brings me so much peace." Maybe I haven't noticed it so much because I have been a member all my life but it is so true.

Reading the book of mormon and learning more of Christ just brings so much light and peace. And once you feel that light and that peace and joy....you just have got to go share it! It is undeniable! That is why I love being on a mission, because I get to share that light every single day! It just gives me thrills when I began to see it enlighten my investigators.

 I'll share with you one of my favorite scripture from this week. It's found in Doctrine and Covenants 50: 24. That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth morelight; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

My perfect day is always when I have the opportunity to bear my testimony to those I meet. I love you all and keep sharing that light that you all contain,
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!

That one time that Elder Lawrence came to our mission..

Hi family and friends, This week was crazy! Hermana Justiniano and I have been working our behinds off this week to make up for loss time while she was sick. We have been finding and knocking doors like crazy!

Good news is that our hard work has paid off. We have three new investigators. One of which seams really really interested in our message this far. Extremely blessed! It has been pretty amazing because we also now have more potentials and referrals then we have ever had before. Yesterday we actually went to one of our referrals home and she turned out to be a long lost member. Both her sister and her were baptized at the same time their father was baptized but they never really gained a testimony of their own. Coincidence? I think not! Also because of the fact that her sister and their friend also ended up sitting in on the lesson about the restoration. It was so cool! They were just so in tune to what was going on. Especially their friend!

At the end of the lesson we asked if we could return and talk more about our message and all of them said yes! So we now have a awesome referral for the YSA sister!! Whoop whoop!!

Storm Arioso, Surprise!!!!

 Sunday was crazy as well! The moment I stepped out of relief society in my little Spanish branch, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turn around and who do I see?? Brother Arioso!! From the Rogers stake...from home! I let out the loudest squeal ever and I about grabbed him and hugged him. He told me to wait right there because he had to go get someone. And he returns with Storm, one of my sisters really good friends! She runs at me and we just have a tackle hug reunion. It was the best! It was like a part of home had just come to visit. Turns out she and her parents are in the Wilton ward who are in charge of feeding us when the Spanish branch can't! They can feed us!!!! Ahhhhhh! That just seriously made my whole day! I was just over joyed. It was like part of my sister was there with me. I love surprises

 Okay so the reason I didn't write on Monday is because we had some one from the Seventy, Elder Lawrence, come and speak to all of us....and wow...just wow....everything they said was amazing. I wish I could write it all down and send it to you all but I can't sadly so I'll pick out my favorite part. Sacrifice: the principle of giving up something for something even better Steps to true sacrifice and exercising faith
1. Have the courage to establish a righteous goal or desire
2. You have got to believe - always talk, act, and feel like it is going to happen
3. Be willing to plead your case to the lord through prayer - think of your righteous desire often, pray for it to come to pass often
4. Commit yourself - do everything in your power to make this desire come to pass - negotiate with the lord, I will do this if you do...
5. Expect trials and obstacles -if it seems like your whole world is caving in then that means that the advesary knows you are close to accomplishing your righteous goal so he is doing everything in his power to make sure it doesn't happen, keep pushing.
6. Expect the lord to intervene

 I think step four is my favorite because that is where sacrifice is required. Sacrifice is an amazing thing...it is actually a blessing to sacrifice. The heavens abide by the rules of obedience and sacrifice. Jesus Christ needed to be sacrificed so that all righteousness could come to pass. Everything is about sacrifice. If we are not ready for to sacrifice then we are not ready for the kingdom of heaven.

We as a mission were invited to sacrifice something personal so that we could reach our goal of 411 baptisms this year. Everyone accepted that challenge.

I know it is by sacrifice that the powers of heaven can work. I have seen it. My mission was a sacrifice but I have seen it bless my family and the people I teach out there. I am now part of something bigger then myself and it is amazing. I love the mission and I love all of you. I hope all your weeks went well!
Much love,
Hermana Paredes
Over and out

Why does motor sound like a cat?

😑😂 Hi everyone! So this week we didn't have much happen because...(drumroll) we were all sick! No joke! About every missionary in our little branch was sick. I was fine thanks to my strong Peruvian immune system.. Haha! Thanks Papi! 😉 needless to say we didn't get much work done because we were home a lot. Poor Hermana Justiniano. I did go on one exchange with Hermana Stevens...craziness!!

On exchange with Hermana Stevens aka my trainer: So Hermana Stevens and I decided to stop by the Church building to figure out who were we going to visit. We planned inside the building and then we came back out to get going. As Hermana Stevens started the car, we heard a strange sound emanating from the engine. Hermana Stevens looked at me and said "why does it sound like there is a cat inside our car?" She turned off the engine and we got out to investigate. We could hear a kitten mewing from somewhere so we searched around the car and find a tiny kitten cowering behind our left front tire. I made a grab for its scruff and it got scared and scurried up the tire and right into our engine!! "Quick! Pop the hood!!" We popped it open just in time to see him run out of sight...in the interior of the car! Yikes! And then for the next hour, we were doing everything from trying to speak cat to driving around the parking lot to get him out (that last one was totally the zone leaders idea... Wasn't happy about that one!). It was ridiculous!

Nothing we did would make him come out and we could still hear him mewing as plain as day! Hermana Stevens was all for going to the auto shop so that they could pull the poor kitten out but I was totally against it because the nearest auto shop was 30 minutes away and we would for sure kill him. So we finally got down on our knees in the church parking lot and pleaded for heavenly help. As soon as the prayer was over, I told Hermana Stevens to take another lap around the parking lot. It just felt right even though I was terrified that I was going to see roadkill in the making.... She took a lap and as soon as she came back around and parked, our little trouble maker climbed down the tire and I immediately grabbed him by the scruff.

We almost cried for relief! I placed him on my lap and we opened a bottle of water for him. That little guy must have been so dehydrated because he just lapped it up like nothing else. We ended up releasing him back into the wild because you could tell he was a street cat through and through, and we were pretty sure his mom was around somewhere. Crazy right?!

So other then getting cats out of cars, I have been doing a lot of studying of the scriptures during Hermana Justiniano's sick days. I appreciate the atonement so much more. It just covers everything! Even bored sisters in their apartments on sick days! There have been many sisters who have been going through some rough times lately and I just find it amazing how the atonement covers everyone's need. No matter what the situation or circumstance. It just fills me with so much peace that there is someone who can make up for everything that I lack and loves me just as much as the next person, and that is my savior Jesucristo.

I stand all amazed more and more each day as I watch him change lives and fill the holes in hearts that people think can never be filled. Even though I haven't done much missionary work outside of my apartment, there is so much I have done inside. I'm gaining a better understanding of the plan and my part in it all. It just makes me never want to be the same. I can't be the same because that would be denying the truths I have come to know. It's just wonderful.
I love you all! ❤️ Hermana Paredes
Over and out