Héctor Paredes

CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO — Half a century has brought a world of change to the Church in this land, according to early converts who have seen membership increase more than 1,300 percent from fewer than 6,000 to more than 800,000 members.

And the greatest changes the gospel has brought have come in the lives, not the numbers, of members, said Hector and Maria Paredes, who live quietly in retirement in this northern Mexico city.
They enjoy the company of their seven children, 29 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
They were baptized on April 16, 1949, in Mexico City. When the Mexico City Stake was created in 1961, Sister Paredes was called as the first stake Relief Society president among the Latin American members in the Church. Brother Paredes was called as one of the first bishops.
(A stake in Colonia Juarez, Mexico, created in 1895, consisted mostly of immigrants from the United States.)
Brother Paredes' career as an accountant, auditor and manager of an organization of hardware companies in central Mexico and then as general manager of the stores in northern Mexico took them to a number of cities and eventually to Chihuahua where they have chosen to live.
He is known by members here simply as "the patriarch." He was called as patriarch when the first stake in Chihuahua was created in 1976. He has also served as president of the Mexico Vera Cruz Mission, director of the Missionary Training Center in Guatemala, regional representative and as director of the Mexico City Temple Visitors Center.
"We have always had an opportunity to serve," Sister Paredes explained. "Since we accepted the gospel, we have never refused a calling."
The Paredes family first heard about the Church in the late 1940s through the accomplishments in sports and agriculture of the members from the Mormon colonies in northern Mexico. In 1948, missionaries came to their home and were invited in.
"The missionaries didn't have discussions then," he said. "They had only the Bible and Book of Mormon in Spanish and they gave us teachings from the two books. It was different than now because we studied one theme and then another. Their teaching was very complete, and I asked many questions."
Eventually, the missionaries created a branch for their investigators and "we all helped. She was Relief Society secretary and I was in the Mutual," said Brother Paredes. "This gave us a chance to learn a lot about the Church."
After studying with the missionaries and attending Church for about nine months, the Paredes family was baptized. They continued with their assignments in the Relief Society and Mutual, but after a few months, he was called as the first local president of the Industrial Branch. About a year later, Brother and Sister Paredes, then with two young children, joined the annual trip of members in Mexico by bus and train to the Arizona Temple where they were sealed.
It was on this trip that they first saw the Church in Chihuahua. On the eight-day trip, they stopped in Chihuahua to attend Sunday services.
"We met in a rented house, and there were 18 people there besides us, all investigators.
"The next time we came here, four years later and again on the way to the temple in Mesa, we met in a house larger than the first. The branch was organized under Pres. Baltazar Flores. Later, we met in the first meetinghouse in Chihuahua, and the president of the branch was Luis Rubalcava."
The decade of the 1950s was a period of strong growth throughout Mexico. During this time, Sister Paredes served as a teacher in Relief Society. "I didn't know very much about the Bible or the Book of Mormon," she said. "I was teaching people who knew more than I did. I was very timid, but here I gained confidence in myself." She was later called as a counselor to the branch Relief Society president and as district Relief Society president.
"It was a beautiful work," she said. "In my district was Guadalajara, Michoacan, Toluca, Morelos and Mexico City. I traveled with my counselors very often. We met sisters in very humble circumstances in the tiny hamlets who had great testimonies. Sometimes there were no paths, and so we rode in on burros or traveled on foot. We stayed with the sisters, and they offered their food to us, beans and tortillas, the most tasty I have eaten in my life."
Growth affected the branch as well, said Brother Paredes, who served as branch president for 11 years. "I knew many of the people being baptized," he said. "We had a little more than 1,000 members in our branch. There was no room in the meetinghouse for all of them. We had 500 to 600 members attending each Sunday. I asked the mission president to give me two more counselors to help me. But he said, 'No, wait a little longer because we are preparing to become a stake.' "
Soon afterward, the Mexico City Stake was created and the branch was divided to create the Industrial and Madero wards. Brother Paredes was called as bishop of the Industrial Ward and Sister Paredes was called as stake Relief Society president. Her mentor and teacher was her counselor, Leonora Brown, wife of Harold Brown, the first stake president.Being in the stake greatly reduced her travel, but the work was similar. One of the challenges was helping the women arrange their affairs in such a way that they could take time away from the family to attend Relief Society meetings."They learned to make the arrangements and attend their meetings," she said.
Some of the "humble and simple" people she worked among "who had nothing but the gospel, now have their own cars, their own homes and their children are studying at universities or are professionals. The gospel has transformed them."
A year after the stake was created, Brother Paredes was transferred by his company to Torreon, where he was called as mission president's counselor. They also lived in Puebla and San Luis Potosi, and were transferred to Chihuahua in 1965.
Brother and Sister Paredes, members of the Chihuahua Ward, Chihuahua Mexico Stake, are deeply respected for their many years of service. "We are pleased with the growth of the Church in Mexico," he said.
Sister Paredes added, "We are very pleased to see the transformation of the members in the gospel and how they have progressed over their lives."
The Paredes have not only seen that progress, but are living examples of it.

(Some of these even have a glimmer of truth to them.)