Week 9 - September 25, 2017

Two Months!

I promise I'm not counting.

Tuesday.  WE had a lesson with Gissel today that went really well.  She moved her baptism date back up.  She is such a good investigator and understands a lot, but she is hard to understand and she talks very long, but it's okay.  We also taught some other lessons that went well.

(Elder Copeland making pancakes.)

Wednesday:  We taught some less actives today and that went pretty well.  We then went to Family Ponce's house and it went really well.  He loved the lesson and told us that he wanted us to come back later in the week.  Then later that night we went to go teach Marcia.  Her husband doesn't listen to us still.  He just sits on his bed playing his phone.  We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and it went so well.  She loved it.  We asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes.  I am so happy!  She is such a good person.

Thurday  We were going to teach Hno Victor again.  We went to his house and he wasn't there, so we decided to look for one of our new contacts.  We called her and she said that she lived on top of the mountain, so we hiked another mountain and looked for the white house that she said she lived in and there were lots of houses that were white.  So we went and knocked on one and this shirtless man and his brother were in there.  He let us in and we taught  them.  They loved the message so much.  They told us that we needed to come back and they were so excited, so I cant wait to see them again.  We went to Angel and Ximena's house after.   They're some of my favorite investigators and helped them with their job of making Christmas bags.

Friday.  We taught some lessons and they were good, but basically just a day of looking and finding some new investigators.

Saturday.  We went back to Angel and Ximena's house and helped them more.  

Sunday.  Went to Church and my comp was sick, so we didn't do much.

All is good here in Ecuador.  I'm working hard and I'm loving it here.  It's really cold in the nights, and I wake up about 2 AM every morning from dogs barking in the street. 
We have like the worst dog ever in our building.  We have to run out before he tries to kill us haha.  It's so funny.  I'm working hard and trying to learn Spanish.  Miss you all.  Hope all is good.  Love, Elder Copeland

Week 8 - September 18, 2017

Hola, family and friends.  I don't have much time, so I'm going to try and get as much done as possible.

Tuesday:  We had a Zone Meeting, which was really cool because I got to see Elder McCleese again.  We just went over a bunch of our goals for this next change.  When we got back, we went with Hna. Matilde (she is a member that is the best person ever and helps us with finding and teaching investigators), and we went to a couple of houses of less active members.

We then went to one of our investigators' houses named Monica and Micheal.  It was such a good lesson.  We did so much, and I understood some Spanish for the first time haha. 

Wednesday:  Really hard day.  I felt sick and I didn't understand anything that was going on and I was a little home sick, but it's all good.  I went on an exchange with Elder Palmer.  He's from Tooele, Utah, and it was nice being with him.  We taught a couple lessons to his investigators and they were so good.  One of the lessons this mom was crying the whole time because her son has not been a good son.  So I remembered why I'm here and that's to bring these families closer and turn them into families that are together for eternity.

Thursday:  Today we were with Hna. Matilde like all day, just meeting less actives and new investigators.  We taught this one family and he claims that there is always a ghost in their house haha.  The people here are pretty interesting. They say that they always have visions and stuff.  We then had a lesson with Gissel, and it was sad because she pushed back her baptismal date because her friends told her some stuff that wasn't true about baptisms.  So we invited her to Grace's baptism which was on Saturday.

Friday:  We went back to Michael and Monica's house today and taught them about the Chapter of Enos (Which is really good.  Read it!) and it was such a good lesson.  Then we taught Digna, and she's really hard to teach, but we taught about temples and she loved it.  Hna. Matilde shared such a good testimony and we asked Digna to get baptized, and she said yes, so that was super exciting. 

Saturday:  We went to a Zone activity on a busy street and we just tried contacting everyone.  We met some great people and got their information for future visits. We then went to Grace's baptism (some other missionaries' investigator), and it was so cool seeing her get baptized. Then we went with Hna. Matilde and it was such a long day because one of the less actives lives on top of our Zone and it's up a very steep hill, but it was such a cool view. 

We also gave our first blessing in Spanish, which was cool. Then we went to Marcia and she is such a good investigator, but her husband refuses to listen to us, which is hard.

Sunday:  I got to bless the Sacrament in Spanish for the first time, and I didn't mess up haha.  We went and taught a lot of less actives today and all of the lessons were so good.  We got some of the less actives to say that they would start coming back to church, which was way awesome.

Monday:  We went to Basilica (I think that's how you spell it. It's really hard to spell on these computers haha).  It's a giant Catholic chapel with an unreal view.​

Love, Elder Copeland

Week 7 - September 11, 2017

WOW!  I made it to Ecuador, and it´s amazing and one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! 

Quito is absolutely massive and there are so many houses here.  For my weekly emails, I'll kind of just write a daily report of what happened day by day and hopefully that will be good.

Monday:  We left the MTC early and headed to the Airport ,and when I got to the airport, I saw my dad there, it was so cool.  Not only was he on my flight, the person that was sitting next to him let me sit by him, so I got to talk to my dad the whole flight.  It was such a blessing. 

After the flight to Atlanta, we flew to Quito and I had the chance to give a Book of Mormon to the people sitting next to me, so that was awesome.  We landed and it was really dark when we got there, so we didn't really get to see much.  But we got to see my Mission President and some other missionaries right when we walked out.  We drove to the secretary's house and went to bed for the day.

Tuesday:  We woke up and we had the perfect view of the whole city.  We later went to a District Meeting with the secretaries and then went street contacting for a little. While Elder McCleese, Elder Morton (AP), and I were tracking, we got nine people that were interested and gave away a couple of Books of Mormon.  And, no, I did not really understand anything that was going on, and I didn't say too much, but it was awesome.  We later went to my Mission President's house and ate dinner and his view of the city was even better.  We then went to bed for the night shortly after.

Wednesday:  Haha a crazy day.  It was very long and required a lot of walking with my luggage.  We woke up and went to the chapel so that we could find out what sector we were going to and to meet our trainers.  We did a bunch of training, then I finally found my companion.  His name is Elder Ayuso, from Chili, and he is such a good dude.  I like him a lot.  And he knows a lot of English, so that is nice.  

 
Then we found out that we were going to go to the Ofelia sector, the Cangahua district, and we are in charge of two cities, Pisuli and Roldoz, probably the poorest part of Quito.  

We had to take a bus to our sector with all my luggage, and that took forever.  And when we got there we had a lesson with Grace, and I didn't understand really anything.  But she is getting baptized this SATURDAY!

Thursday:  What a day!  It was so good!  We did so much!  We first studied for awhile and then went out with some members to teach (the members in my ward are very good).  And since we have two cities, it takes awhile to get place to place and we're walking up straight mountains the entire time.  I don't know how they build houses here because it's so steep. We then went to teach the Irgue family.  It's a mom and a 15 year old girl (She's already been baptized, just not the mom).  We had a very good lesson about Jesus and she accepted to be baptized.  It was so cool, especially cause I actually said a little.  Then we went and taught another family.  There was one mom and 2 daughters, and we taught them on faith, and I invited them to read Alma 32.  We then taught another family on prayer and i invited them to read Alma 34, and they kept asking me how to say things in English.  They're such a good family.  Two of them accepted baptism awhile ago, but they need to get married first, but they don't have the money.  I hope that they will find a way.

Friday:  This was an interesting day.  I saw some interesting things.  We went to go and teach a guy named Victor, and I understood more of what he was saying.  I asked him to be baptized and he said he would love to. We need to  meet with him more though until he can actually be baptized.  We then went with Hermana Matilda (A member from Otavalo) and went and visited less actives and taught them.  We taught one more girl later that day that has a baptismal date and I understood nothing that she said, but I had this feeling that I should share a scripture with her (cause that's basically all I can do) and she loved it.  I love this place so much and the people are so awesome and very small.  Haha no one is close to my height here.

Saturday:  Today we didn't have as many lessons, so for a lot of the day we were contacting and we got a good amount of  people that were interested.  We went and visited a less active and her daughter that is not a member and taught them.  They are extremely poor and live off everything they have in their yard (not really a yard) such as chickens, rabbits, and all of the stuff that they garden.  But during the lesson, I again had no idea what was going on, but I had this feeling to share something and my companion told me after that it was perfect for her.  <the Spirit talks to us, we just have to listen.

Sunday:  First Sunday here in Pisuli, and it was so cool to see how awesome the members are in my ward.  We filled up the chapel, so all of the missionaries had to sit in the overflow. Also, I had to bear my testimony and it was very simple because my Spanish is so awful, but it was cool going up there.  WE then did a zone activity at a park just contacting a bunch of people, which was awesome.  I also got to see Elder Johnson because he is my Zone Leader, which was pretty cool.

 (Elder Johnson and Elder Copeland.)

Love you all so much.  We just went shopping today for our house, so we got some food. 

 (A popular soup in Ecuador.)

(The apartment Elder Copeland and Elder Ayuso live in.)

This is hard work, but I love doing it and I know that I will get better if I trust in the Lord and do my part.  Ecuador is the best place on the planet, and I love it so much.  Hope everything is going well for everyone.  Sorry if I misspelled anything.  This keyboard is pretty bad.

Love, Elder Copeland

Arrival in Quito, Ecudaor

Elder Copeland arrives in Quito, Ecuador.  Here he is with his mission president, Pres. Blake P. Murphy, and his wife, Sister Dana Murphy.

Elder Copeland Leaves for Ecuador - September 4, 2017

On the morning of Monday, September 4, 2017, Elder Copeland left the Missionary Training Center from Provo, Utah, to begin the flight from Salt Lake City, first to Atlanta, and then on to Ecuador.  He was so excited to finally be able to get to his actual mission field and start serving the Lord and the people there.

Both he and his dad were so thrilled to find out that they were on the same flight to Atlanta.  His dad was flying to Atlanta for business.

Elder Copeland's dad was so happy to meet the Elders in his son's mission who he has written so much about.  

 After flying for several more hours, these young men soon would be starting two of the hardest, yet most rewarding years of their lives.  We wish them all the best!

Week 6 - September 2, 2017

GOING TO ECUADOR!

Hola, friends and fam.  I cannot believe the time is finally coming for me to leave the MTC.  It's been an awesome, funny, and a great testimony builder to me in my life.  I have met so many great people--most of them being the people in my district.  I'm going to miss them so much.  I wish we could all go to the same mission because they are honestly so great.  I'm going to miss my best friend, Elder Booth, soooooo much.  He's going to be the best missionary out there. 

 (Elder Copeland with his District)

(Elder Copeland wrote:  "For our last exercise time, we played Ecuador vs. other countries, and obviously, we won!")

(The district had a sleep-over--mega bed!)

Well, not too much happened this week, but it was still a good week.  We are working hard.  My Spanish is getting a little better every single week.  But I've still got so much to work on, it's insane.  I have no idea what I'm walking into on Monday, but I couldn't be more excited.

Yesterday we had in-field orientation, and it is making me so excited to get into the field and actually try to make a change in someone's life.  There are so many people out there that need the gospel, and I hope that I will be able to find them and teach them what I know to be true. 

Sorry for the small E-Mail.  Next week will be better!!:)  I know the church is true and I know that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God.  READ IT every single day!!

Love, Elder Copeland