Happy Halloween!

Hey family and friends,

 This week has been pretty great! I had to give a talked in sacrament meeting this past Sunday and I didn't throw up on the podium...I count that as a success. It actually turned out to be a really good talk considering it was thrown all together the night before because I didn't have time during the week...okay I did have time but I did not feel I was getting any spiritual revelation until the night before. Funny how being under pressure brings a lot of spiritual revelation.

 It was also a very successful Sunday because a lot of our less actives came to church and one of them brought a friend who is not a member. She ended up liking church a lot and now we are teaching her kids. Yeah for awesome members! 😆

 Daniel, the eleven old boy we are teaching, is doing amazing! He is just progressing and learning so much! Yesterday we went over to his house to teach him and guess who was there...the none member friend with her children! We ended up teaching all of them the ten commandments and the hand signs that go with them. Though they may or may not think that the second commandment is that we don't worship cows...oops. Haha! They are great kids! Daniel is especially amazing! When we went over the sixth commandment, Daniel bore a little testimony about how we are all god's children and that is why we should not kill. He then turn to his friends and said "you are my brother and you are my sister." He then turns to us, "they are my sisters too!" Oh I just wanted to grab him and hug him! Though I think my favorite quote of his is "the three most important people are God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. They are not the same people but they are all on the same team!" Man I have really underestimated this kid! He just understands everything and he just sees the big picture. And now he is super excited to share it with his friends! I love him!

 Lorenzo, my recent convert is also doing really well. We had a lesson about the word of wisdom with him and he basically taught us...yeah we are just waiting for him to get translated....He is amazing! He is starting his second time reading the Book of Mormon and he is already on chapter eight of first Nephi. Also last week, he blessed the sacrament! For the first time!! Sure he had to repeat the prayer like four times but he did so good and he said that he really liked doing it. He is just growing so much in the gospel but he is not prideful at all. I could probably say that he is the most humble person I've ever met in my life. Just so gentle, takes correction, looks for the good in people, always is ready to serve, just an example of what a disciple of Christ should be. Every time I go teach him, I learn something new. He thinks he is learning from us but I think it is actually flipped. We are learning from him. I so can not wait till he can enter into the temple.

 We also got a new ward mission leader. What a blessing! He is so great! First day as ward mission leader, he pulled us aside into a room and sat us down and then discussed our needs and how he could help us. I about wept! Haha! But seriously it was so nice that he wants to be directly involved in our work. He also makes sure that we have dinners for the week and he is helping us plan Daniel's baptism for November. We are extremely grateful to have him!

 I haven't done this in a long time but I am going to share with you some spiritual insight that I got this week. I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Alma 60 and I came to verse seven and something there just really struck me. It says "Can you think to sit upon your thrones in a state of thoughtless stupor, while your enemies are spreading the work of death around you? Yea, while they are murdering thousands of your brethren." It was very very interesting because in the very second that I felt the spirit touch my heart. It was very different for me because usually the spirit touches my heart with scriptures that are praising me or are a little bit gentler but this one really hit me and I couldn't help but think why? This chapter is about war and what this chapter is referring to is a war that is going on in the Book of Mormon, so why was this hitting me so hard. I did a little more research and then I found my answer. Just like those people in the Book of Mormon, we are in a war. Maybe not a physical war but definitely in a spiritual one. Everywhere Satan is trying to murder thousands of my brothers and sisters. Our brothers and sisters. I don't think we realize it. I think we sometimes think "well I'll take a break of doing home teaching or visiting teaching or sharing my belief with those I know because I have been doing a lot lately." Well you know what, Satan has also been doing a lot lately as well but the difference between him and us is that he is diligent in his purpose. He is one hundred percent focused. So every moment we stop or we don't do our visits or we don't share what we know with someone who is searching, we are basically sitting in our "thrones in a state of thoughtless stupor" while Satan and his forces are murdering thousands of our brothers and sisters.

 I don't want to be accountable for that. I have began to ask myself "am I as diligent about my purpose as Satan is about his?" If i can't answer yes then I am not doing enough.

 Let us not stand by and wait for miracles to happen or angels to come and rescue our brothers and sisters! Because it won't come! You know why? Because we are the angels, we are the miracle waiting to happen! Why would god send others when he has already sent us. Let us be proactive instead of reactive!

 A good talk to read that get my point across is Elder Hollands talk from General Conference October 2012.

 I love you all! Have a good week!

Hermana Paredes

 P.s. I also included a video for your amusement....you're welcome! 😉

October Adventures!

Hey friends and family!

 I'm sorry that this email is coming in a little late. Our zone went to a corn maze today! Probably one of the funniest activities I've done in a while (more fun?)! Though it wasn't the whole zone, it was still super fun. I'll send some pictures along and maybe a video.

 This week was actually "quite great" in the words of Elder Stewart (He is from England). We got five new investigators and one person on date! We are so excited! November looks like it is going to be a great month.

 Our first new investigator is Andres. Funny story about finding him. We had him in our area book and so we stuck him in the plans...I'm so glad we did. When he opened the door, I had a little freak out session because there was a Peruvian flag right behind his head. It literally went like this, "Hi we are miss..ARE YOU FROM PERU?!" It was really cool because we got into a really good conversation about Peru and the Andes and the culture and how much we missed it. He was super cool and he agreed to have us back over this coming Saturday. I am super stoked to teach him.

 Our second new investigator is Jessie. She recently just had a new baby and is just the sweetest thing ever. Apparently she has had missionaries over before and she liked what they were teaching her but one day they just stopped coming. She told us she never understood why but she is happy that we are coming back again. We have an appointment with her this night and we are going to be teaching her the Plan of Salvation. Very very excited.

 Okay last thing! We went over last night to go teach Daniel "the gospel of Jesus Christ". At first the lesson just seamed to be dragging and I was beginning to worry that Daniel wasn't getting anything out of this lesson. We came to the point of baptism and we showed him the video about Jesus Christ's baptism...still nothing. Now I was pretty desperate for him to feel something! I was about to explain to him again why it was so important to be baptized when the spirit quietly whispered "just ask him if he really wants this." So I took a deep breath and very gently asked him if this is what he really wanted, to be baptized. Daniel is a thinker and he says exactly how he feels so he just sat there and thought and thought. I could see the gears turning in his brain and then something just clicked. He looked me straight in the eyes and said "yes". I then asked him why and he gave such a sweet sincere answer "I want to live with God and Jesus my big brother in the celestial kingdom. I want to be in the celestial kingdom." He brought the spirit in with that answer and then we were able to invite him to baptism on November 19th. I also asked him how he felt when he said yes. I loved loved LOVED his answer. He said he got a tingly feeling..."right here" as he pointed to his chest. He gets it! He really gets it! I had been feeling like we were just pushing him to baptism but this lesson revealed that he himself really wanted this. It is beautiful! This is just an eleven year old boy but he just has such a deep understanding of the gospel. I think I sometimes forget that when I was his age, I began to experience the gospel and feel it in my life too. Sometime I underestimate this kids but I am always astounded when I hear their testimonies.

 It is just a reminder to me that the gospel is for everyone. Young or old. The gospel is simply beautiful. So simple yet so complex. Simple enough for children to understand but complex enough to that we will never stop learning about it. Look at the wisdom of our God.

I will always always be grateful for is gospel.

 Hermana Paredes

We work. Always...even in the pouring rain

In and Out

Dear family and friends,

 It has rained cats and dogs these past few days! So most of my time consisted of running from the rain! It was ridiculous! I loved it!

 So this week was also the week of eating out and sugar....bad combination! Literally every member wanted to take us out to eat and I got my first try of "In and out"! Not to bad California...😏 haha! The reason we ate out so much because this was the week of my nine month mark...yep I am officially nine months! Aggggghhhhhh! It is going to fast! Someone slow it down!

 Let see...what happened this week. So one of my favorite people ever got baptized! Her name is Dianne Warren and I met her at a members house. She was so so sweet and I had the amazing opportunity to befriend her. We talked about everything from "Little house on the prairie" to religion. During the course of that night, I was able to ask her if she would like missionaries like us to come over to her house and teach her. She said sure....that was about 4 months ago and just this past Saturday I had the opportunity to congratulate her as he newest member of the church. Even though I never taught her, I felt the joys of seeing her make that covenant. She is amazing! That made me want to be the best member missionary ever when I get home! I felt a rush! Gosh I love being a missionary!

 Another amazing thing! We found my former investigator! Jose! A while back we had to drop him because we couldn't find him. That was the hardest thing I had ever done. I literally cried as I did it. It just hurt my soul to know that I possibly wouldn't find him again but I had faith that some missionary somewhere would. You have just got to trust Heavenly Father. He totally knows better then me and you never know...tender mercies might be coming your way! Though he is not in our area anymore and he is now in the elders, I am just over joyed that he is found! I hope that I will be seeing him baptized soon! He was such a wonderful investigator. So full of faith and thirst for the truth.

 Hope your week was great!

Hermana Paredes

Laura's baptism

A girl has got to do what a girl has got to do

Hi family and friends,

 So things have calmed down in our area. It isn't as crazy anymore...thank goodness! We still have a lot of work though but we are enjoying it. And especially enjoying being in a trio! There is just so many things you can do in a trio! There is always someone to talk to, someone to be with you when the other goes to the bathroom (unless both of them have to go.... 😑), someone to lift you when you are feeling down, you can divide and conquer as long as one of them can see and hear you still....I submit trios are the best. Especially with Hermana Zaugg and Hermana Scott. It is funny how different they are but it just makes our companionship so much better!

 This week we had another baptism. Her name is Laura Guzman and she was the other sisters investigator but when the areas were combined she became ours but man, her baptism was one of the most interesting ones I have ever done. All the planning went fine and she did great, it was just getting the baptismal room ready. So our ward mission leader forgot to call someone to fill the fount (and who can blame him, the guy has like three different callings in the ward...stressful!) and we thankfully showed up a half an hour before the baptism was suppose to start. We realized that the fount was not filled and we did not have a key to get into the back rooms to turn on the pump. Thank goodness someone had left the curtain to the fount unlocked, do Hermana Zaugg wasted no time. She hiked up her skirt, climbed over the glass railing to the fount and jumped down into the fount. She then ran around the back way and got to the doors to unlock it so that we could get in. I then had to pick the lock to the plumbing...not an easy fleet and we finally were able to get the water going but man for a moment there, we were scared that we weren't going to be able to have a baptism!

The baptism turned out great even though Laura had to do it four different times because we accidentally stopped the water before it was all the ways filled... Oops! 😅Thank goodness she has such a good humor. She told us "well I better be clean now if I got dunked four times!" She is so funny! 😂 We really love her! Also Hermana Scott and I sang for her baptism...that was terrifying because President was there! And Hermana Scott wants to so badly be in the Psalms of Sac and I sure did not want to mess that up for her. (Psalms of sac is a music cd that the mission makes every year featuring the missionaries musical talents) It turned out pretty good and the whole ward says that now they know that we can sing, they are going to be using us more....well.. Great. Haha!

 We added a few more new investigators this week! One who is really cool! His name is Jesus! Apparently he was Hermana Vergaray's old investigator and when I was on a exchange with her we tried to go find him but couldn't....but his week we found him! And he is awesome! He told us how sometimes when he talks about a god or Jesus he gets a warm feeling in his chest and that he wants to build his faith! We got the opportunity to teach him how he can directly communicate with Heavenly Father through prayer! And he said one! A real one! Apparently the only prayers he has ever done are his recitations so that was his first true prayer! We are super excited for him!

 One last miracle! I got a call Saturday night from President telling me that Pedro had been baptized! A little bit of background, Pedro was an investigator that Hermana Justiniano and I put on date back in Elk Grove. When Hermana Justiniano and I got shotgunned out, somehow his information was not transferred over to the elders so they couldn't find him. Hermana Justiniano and I were devastated. I remember praying that somehow he would be found and he was! Three transfers later, they find him! And he was baptized! Hermana Justiniano was able to meet him at a multicultural event and he told her that he still remembered us! And that we were the Angels that changed his life around! Wow! That is such a tender blessing! In my time in Elk Grove, I thought we hadn't done anything for that area and then after we lost Pedro, I really felt horrible but it is all worth it now that he is baptized!

 It has been a great week! I hope your alls week is great too!

Hermana Paredes

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

Hello family and friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Hermana Paredes

It was the week before transfers...

Hola amigos y familia!

 Okay so this email is going to be short but contain a lot of pictures....lots!

 So first off, Juan. Man this week was crazy with our investigator Juan! So Monday night we tried to call Juan. No answer. Tuesday morning we tried to get ahold of him. No answer. Tuesday night, called him again. No answer. This continued to Thursday night when we finally got a hold of him. I about cried with relief. Apparently he has just had a very busy week and was going through a lot and wasn't able to get back to us but he told he had listened to our voicemail, read our texts, and Facebook messages, and the note that we left on his door filled with scriptures....yeah we are a bit persistent. Haha! But everything is good. Juan was baptized this past Saturday and confirmed Sunday morning and his daughter was able to come and witness that. It was amazing! He just was beaming from ear to ear! And he even gave his testimony at the end of the baptism. I love listening to converts testimonies!

 Basically my whole week was chasing down Juan and taking care of Hermana Niemann. She got really sick....the poor thing! She came down with a fever and chills and aches and had to stay in bed for 3 days so we didn't get much work done. About the only interest thing that happened was the baptism and transfer calls.

 For those of you who haven't had the joys of experiencing transfer calls...it is the same kind of feeling as when you were a little kid waiting for Santa. Usually they call us about nine to nine thirty ish but our zone leaders didn't call us till ten! We were dying!! I sort of knew that I was going to stay in North Sac, but I was not prepared for the call. They combined the other sisters area with ours so Hermana Leon and Hermana Stout were transferred out and Hermana Niemann (this one came as a shocker to me) was transferred out to Rancho Cordova. And I stayed here...and I got two new companions!! I'm in a trio again! What?! And my area is huge! Double what?! I seriously cover the whole stake except for Del Paso Heights which is the elders!! And this is my first time leading out an area too!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! (I know I seam like I am freaking out but actually I am pretty calm....Sort of....haha!)

 So yeah....that has been my crazy week. Oh and I also went to the temple today! It was beautiful! 😊 

Love you all,

Hermana Paredes

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