Wow! I still can not believe that another transfer has flown by...that is crazy!
Hola amigos y familia,
This week with Hermana Leon has been so great. She is a super on task missionary and we are really getting things done here! We have been able to visit tons of less actives and our investigators as well. Actually we had quite a few miracles with the less actives.
We were out knocking some potentials doors as well as trying to locate our recent convert that has been to church in ages, and we were just not having any success. So she and I decided that we would go back to our car and go to our backups. Funny thing is that she and I kept on getting the feeling that we were missing something. That there was something in this area that we were suppose to do but we couldn't figure it out so we were just going to leave. As we were heading back to our car, we saw two Latino men further down the road walking to an old broken down truck. It was one of those awkward distances were you weren't sure if it would be weird to just start walking towards them or not. (If that makes any sense...it made sense in my head at the time). Yeah....so she and I were just going to hop into the car but the passenger door would not unlock. No matter how many times I pressed the unlock button, nothing would happen. We both just stood there staring at the car not sure what was our next move so I said "Well....it looks like the lord wants us to go talk to those two." And that is exactly what we did...turns out one of them is a really less active member and the other was his friend. We were able to get his phone number and address so that we could send the missionaries over to him since he doesn't live in our area. As soon as we were done talking to him and his friend, I was able to unlock the doors with no problem...interesting right?
Another experience with a less active. Hermana Leon and I, after giving service in IRC, decided to go to Panda Express 🐼 and as we were ordering food...a less active walked in. We hadn't seen her in quite a long time and hadn't been able to contact her. So it was a total miracle that she had a craving for Americanized Chinese food at the same time we did. Haha! We were able to invite her to the ward activity and she said that she would come (she ended up not coming but hopefully she will come to church this next Sunday for our Christmas program). But not even two minutes after we said goodbye to her, this young man came up to us and asked us what our tags said...Let me tell you, missionaries get so excited when people approach us instead of us having to approach them! We quickly answered his question and told him a little bit about what we do as missionaries. He was in a rush so we were only able to give him a #LIGHTtheWORLD card and a commitment to visit the website. He said "I will!...no I really promise I will! Thank you so much!" What a miracle! And during our lunch break as well!
We were also able to contact another less active and he told us that he had been wanting to come back to church but he doesn't drive and is currently having a few surgeries that he needs to recover from. He was going to come to our ward activity but couldn't make it do to being in traffic while trying to drive back from San Jose.
It was really interesting to me how the lord worked this week. We did not get so many new investigators but we were able to get in contact with some of Heavenly Fathers lost sheep.
I love the scripture in Mathew 18
11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Heavenly Father doesn't just want us to find new people but he wants us to take care of the old as well. He is mindful of all his children and loves each one equally. He put them in our path this week and I know it was for a certain reason. He will keep trying to bring me back to the fold. He will never give up.
This Christmas season, i would invite you all to reach out to those that have strayed from the fold. Your less actives and those that maybe struggling with their testimony. Bring them back. That is one of the greatest gifts you could give your savior.
I love you all and I will write next week!
❤️ Hermana Paredes
P.s. I am singing in the Christmas program! Ha...hah...ahhhhhh!
Monday, December 19, 2016
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Miracles just before the Transfer!
Hi Family and Friends!
So we had another transfer and I am not a Sister Training Leader anymore.
There were too few sisters in the mission at this point so Hermana Nokes and I got released. I am now with Hermana Leon...and she is from Peru! So we make one Peruano and a half!!! YEAH! No, honestly I already love being her companion. She has got so many bright ideas and is super sweet. Plus she makes me laugh a ton! Seriously could not ask for a better companion.
There have been so many crazy things happening this week and we had some AMAZING lessons! I am super excited what the results will be from those!
First off we had a lot of lessons with less actives this week and there is one less active who we have been really working on. She really wants to come back to church but there are just some circumstances holding her back but she truly wants to come. We have been praying a lot for her and trying to make some specific plans to try and help her come. Nothing has work these past few weeks but we had a miracle this past Sunday. SHE CAME! When she walked through the door, I about cried! Oh it is the most beautiful thing to see someone come back. She was so happy to be there and she told us at the end of church, that she is going to try to come every week...even if it means that she can only stay one hour. Wow! God is so good!
We also have started teaching a family. The father is a member who was baptized when he was eight down in Mexico but never was active in the church so we are working on helping him understand the blessings of staying with the church. His children and his wife though are not members. When we first met them, we asked them what they thought the purpose of life is. They told us they could not honestly answer so we asked them if we could teach them and they accepted. Along with that first encounter, we were able to defend our belief about eternal families. The father told us that it was not possible to have eternal families because we are all part of the family of god. We then asked him if this was something that he wishes could be true. That we can be eternal families. He told us yes but it was impossible.
There is something so powerful about testimony. Something just amazing and powerful. As Hermana Nokes and I testified about the power inside temples to seal families and how families are part of God's eternal plan, there was a hush that came over the room. Not one of them tried to contradict us as we testified. Probably one of the most powerful moments that I have had on my mission.
I can testify that the only reason they accepted a return appointment is because the spirit witnessed to them that our word were true. I am so grateful to have the Holy Ghost as a companion. It truly is the only thing that can convert us and change us. I love the feels that I get as my companion testify or as I testify or (my personal favorite) our members and recent converts testify. Testimony is a powerful tool to bring others to Christ. People need to hear our testimonies in order to feel that witness from the spirit! But how can they hear it if we do not open our mouths.
Here is the scripture of the week!
"Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble." - Mosiah 28:3
If we have felt the cleansing power of the atonement, then let us reach out so that others may feel it as well. Let us be desperate enough to not see any of our brothers and sisters perish that love fills our hearts and we open our mouths and testify! Only your testimony can bring them to the knowledge of the gospel...Therefore share it! I love you all! and I will send pictures next week! Hermana Paredes
So we had another transfer and I am not a Sister Training Leader anymore.
There were too few sisters in the mission at this point so Hermana Nokes and I got released. I am now with Hermana Leon...and she is from Peru! So we make one Peruano and a half!!! YEAH! No, honestly I already love being her companion. She has got so many bright ideas and is super sweet. Plus she makes me laugh a ton! Seriously could not ask for a better companion.
There have been so many crazy things happening this week and we had some AMAZING lessons! I am super excited what the results will be from those!
First off we had a lot of lessons with less actives this week and there is one less active who we have been really working on. She really wants to come back to church but there are just some circumstances holding her back but she truly wants to come. We have been praying a lot for her and trying to make some specific plans to try and help her come. Nothing has work these past few weeks but we had a miracle this past Sunday. SHE CAME! When she walked through the door, I about cried! Oh it is the most beautiful thing to see someone come back. She was so happy to be there and she told us at the end of church, that she is going to try to come every week...even if it means that she can only stay one hour. Wow! God is so good!
We also have started teaching a family. The father is a member who was baptized when he was eight down in Mexico but never was active in the church so we are working on helping him understand the blessings of staying with the church. His children and his wife though are not members. When we first met them, we asked them what they thought the purpose of life is. They told us they could not honestly answer so we asked them if we could teach them and they accepted. Along with that first encounter, we were able to defend our belief about eternal families. The father told us that it was not possible to have eternal families because we are all part of the family of god. We then asked him if this was something that he wishes could be true. That we can be eternal families. He told us yes but it was impossible.
There is something so powerful about testimony. Something just amazing and powerful. As Hermana Nokes and I testified about the power inside temples to seal families and how families are part of God's eternal plan, there was a hush that came over the room. Not one of them tried to contradict us as we testified. Probably one of the most powerful moments that I have had on my mission.
I can testify that the only reason they accepted a return appointment is because the spirit witnessed to them that our word were true. I am so grateful to have the Holy Ghost as a companion. It truly is the only thing that can convert us and change us. I love the feels that I get as my companion testify or as I testify or (my personal favorite) our members and recent converts testify. Testimony is a powerful tool to bring others to Christ. People need to hear our testimonies in order to feel that witness from the spirit! But how can they hear it if we do not open our mouths.
Here is the scripture of the week!
"Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble." - Mosiah 28:3
If we have felt the cleansing power of the atonement, then let us reach out so that others may feel it as well. Let us be desperate enough to not see any of our brothers and sisters perish that love fills our hearts and we open our mouths and testify! Only your testimony can bring them to the knowledge of the gospel...Therefore share it! I love you all! and I will send pictures next week! Hermana Paredes
Monday, December 5, 2016
tidings of great joy
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
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| Hermanas Paredes and Nokes |
Monday, November 28, 2016
Hard times come again no more
Hi Family and Friends,
Wow....what a week. Seriously, this week has been a roller coaster for me and Hermana Nokes but it is very interesting the peace we feel through it all.
So lets start with the craziness of Thanksgiving.
This thanksgiving I didn't have your normal rolls, turkey, ham, and mash potatoes....Latinos do it differently...very differently. This thanksgiving I had (drumroll please!)....Cow head. Literally! No joke! I had meat of a cow head!!! and they wrapped it all up in a sandwich. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a really weak stomach...really really weak so as soon as I found out that it was Cow head, I headed to the bathroom and hit my knees. Basically my pleading went like this...."Lord please let me be able to shove this down my throat without barfing all over their table!!" ...I am a witness to you that the Lord answers prayers... hahah!
Also, Daniel got baptized! My cute 11 year old investigator from North Sac! I was able to go to the baptism and see him enter into the covenant with his heavenly father. Though I think the best part was his testimony. He was super shy about doing it so I told him I would go up with him and his little hand grabbed mine and we walked to the front. He bore the simplest but purest testimony. One of a child who had complete faith in his Heavenly Father...yep. I totally cried.
Okay last thing before I run out of time. After our monday dinner...we got a call from one of our less active member, whom we were teaching lessons to her kids because they are recent converts, and she was telling us that she needed to come to the hospital immediately. Turns out that her second oldest daughter was crossing the road when a car came by and hit her She ended up being rushed to the hospital and on the way, she died in the ambulance. So this women called us begging us to come to the hospital to be with her. She really needed support and we were the only ones close enough to the hospital at the time so we went. When we got there we were asked to come and say a prayer over her body. I have never seen a dead person before so quite honestly I was terrified. I wasn't sure if I would be able to hold in all my emotions in front of this family so we quickly said a prayer and then we were led to the room. Interestingly enough it wasn't as scary as what I originally thought it would be...it was actually kind of peaceful. She was just lying there with her eyes closed as if she was sleeping. Honestly if I didn't know better I would of thought she was really just sleeping but then again there was an emptiness about her. It was the strangest experience but at the same time the most beautiful.
I am seriously so grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvations and the fact that we can have our families forever. What comfort it is to know that death is not the end but the beginning of exhalation! Just another step to our eternal progression. We went by their house last night and through her tears, this sister asked us "Will I ever have my daughter again?" I felt the power of the spirit as we quietly testified to her that she would indeed have her daughter again.
I am truly truly grateful for the gospel. It gives me so much hope. I have hope.
I love you all,
Hermana Paredes
Wow....what a week. Seriously, this week has been a roller coaster for me and Hermana Nokes but it is very interesting the peace we feel through it all.
So lets start with the craziness of Thanksgiving.
This thanksgiving I didn't have your normal rolls, turkey, ham, and mash potatoes....Latinos do it differently...very differently. This thanksgiving I had (drumroll please!)....Cow head. Literally! No joke! I had meat of a cow head!!! and they wrapped it all up in a sandwich. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a really weak stomach...really really weak so as soon as I found out that it was Cow head, I headed to the bathroom and hit my knees. Basically my pleading went like this...."Lord please let me be able to shove this down my throat without barfing all over their table!!" ...I am a witness to you that the Lord answers prayers... hahah!
Also, Daniel got baptized! My cute 11 year old investigator from North Sac! I was able to go to the baptism and see him enter into the covenant with his heavenly father. Though I think the best part was his testimony. He was super shy about doing it so I told him I would go up with him and his little hand grabbed mine and we walked to the front. He bore the simplest but purest testimony. One of a child who had complete faith in his Heavenly Father...yep. I totally cried.
Okay last thing before I run out of time. After our monday dinner...we got a call from one of our less active member, whom we were teaching lessons to her kids because they are recent converts, and she was telling us that she needed to come to the hospital immediately. Turns out that her second oldest daughter was crossing the road when a car came by and hit her She ended up being rushed to the hospital and on the way, she died in the ambulance. So this women called us begging us to come to the hospital to be with her. She really needed support and we were the only ones close enough to the hospital at the time so we went. When we got there we were asked to come and say a prayer over her body. I have never seen a dead person before so quite honestly I was terrified. I wasn't sure if I would be able to hold in all my emotions in front of this family so we quickly said a prayer and then we were led to the room. Interestingly enough it wasn't as scary as what I originally thought it would be...it was actually kind of peaceful. She was just lying there with her eyes closed as if she was sleeping. Honestly if I didn't know better I would of thought she was really just sleeping but then again there was an emptiness about her. It was the strangest experience but at the same time the most beautiful.
I am seriously so grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvations and the fact that we can have our families forever. What comfort it is to know that death is not the end but the beginning of exhalation! Just another step to our eternal progression. We went by their house last night and through her tears, this sister asked us "Will I ever have my daughter again?" I felt the power of the spirit as we quietly testified to her that she would indeed have her daughter again.
I am truly truly grateful for the gospel. It gives me so much hope. I have hope.
I love you all,
Hermana Paredes
Monday, November 21, 2016
Even in the rain and cold
Dear family and friends,
Soooo we got hit by a cold front this week...along with tons of rain...and we got to bike in it....oh yeeeahhhh. 😎 haha! It was actually pretty fun even though we were soaked from head to toe. We got to get a few good contacts in and then arrive to our Ward party rocking our soaked dresses...we looked so good! Haha!
So our ward had a thanksgiving dinner and wow...so much good food! So much! And the members here are so determined that we eat well here so don't worry. I never starve.
I seriously love the members in this ward! They are all so funny and just very very very involved in our missionary work. This week alone we got three referrals! Three! That is more then I usually get in a transfer! They all seriously rock my socks! 🙃 they also like to come out with us on lessons which is super nice and they always ask how our investigators are doing! Makes me so happy!
We did tons of service the other day and we have this special opportunity to work with some refugees! Super super cool experience and you can feel the spirit so strong there. I think it is because the sincere desire that everyone one has to help them. The love of God just blooms there.
Funny thing I found out this week. The more you focus on other people...the more you can feel god's love for yourself. Kind of cool that way right? 😊
Well I am now out of time but I will send some pictures to make up the lack of my email.
Love you all!
Hermana Paredes
Monday, November 14, 2016
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!!
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!!
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
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
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