Week 68 - Novemer 12, 2018

Something crazy happened this week! 

I promise you guys that I'm not counting my days, but this week I completed 2/3 of my mission.  I'm saying this so that my mom knows.  Love you, Mom.

This week was a week of miracles and hard work.  We had a couple of divisions with the Elders in our Zone.  First off, we went with Elders from Cotacachi.  I went with Elder Garces, he's from Ecuador.  The guy is super cool.  We spent most of the day just contacting, to be honest, and didn't really see any success.  Later on with the ward, we did an activity to go and visit all of the less-actives in the ward, so we all divided up with the members and went and visited.  It was pretty cool.  I feel like it was a very successful activity. 

As well, we had divisions with the Elders from Punyaro.  I went with Elder Merrill, he's from Salt Lake.  In the morning, we basically just went contacting and it reminded me of the beginning of my mission when I did't know anything.  Elder Merrill is still super new, so he doesn't have the experience or much of the Spanish.  It reminded me of how much I have improved in this past year.  But we were able to visit an old investigator, Maria, who was so cool.  We taught her about the Plan of Salvation, and she loved it.  She lost her mom not too long ago, and it made her so happy to know that she could be with her again.  As well, we did service going to all of the stores in Otavalo and just asked if we could clean their windows.  It was a huge success for us.  Basically, everybody listened to us and we were able to find a lot of new investigators.  It ended up being a great day for us, which was awesome.

As well, this week we were able to put a baptismal date on a family that we are teaching, Familia Cachimuel.  They are a young couple that basically live in the middle of no where haha.  But for like the first time in my mission, they were actually married!!  They work in their house.  They sew clothes then sell them.  They are super cool.  We went and read 3 Nephi 11 with them and taught them the importance of baptism.  It was a very spiritual experience.  Pray for them so that they can continue towards their baptismal date.

As well, this week we did some service in our sector.  We went and cleaned the windows of the little stores in the center.  We had so much success though.  It was such an amazing way to find new investigators.  Basically everyone accepted us.

Saturday was a day of a bunch of miracles for us, to be honest.  We were able to get a lot of things done.  We visited a reference that we received, and he was so awesome!  His wife has cancer, and it has been super hard for him to work, and as well take care of his wife.  But we had a great lesson with him that will hopefully bless him.  After lunch, we went to visit an old investigator.  We got to their house and it turns out that they are a family of 11!!  Eleven, haha!  Three of them have already been baptized, but we were able to teach some of the others. They are super cool, but the parents aren't married.  But they were super excited to see the missionaries again.  So, we are hoping that we will be able to help them get baptized this year.  As well, we went and visited another reference that is just dying to be baptized.  So, we're going to start working with him a lot.

But, wow!  The miracles just kept on coming and coming this week.  On Sunday, we got to church and we decided to go and talk to this old guy that basically only talks Quichaua.  It turns out that he's not even baptized haha.  So we talked to him and he told us that he wants to get baptized, so we put a baptismal date and it was such a miracle, but at the same time it was so funny.  Since he can't hear very well, and he doesn't speak a lot of Spanish, we had to teach very slowly and repeat a lot with him.  But we are hoping that we can help him get baptized this coming month.

As well, as we were walking, we passed by some investigators and some lady yelled "ELDERES!"  So, we went and talked to her.  She told us that she is a member and that she had some references for us to go and visit, so we went with her and we were able to meet Familia Lara.  They are a family of five.  They are so awesome, and they are married!!  We were able to present the Book of Mormon to them and they are super excited!  We are excited to see how we will be able to help them.

The last miracle that we received this week was Jakeline. The Sisters in the Otavalo Ward told us earlier this week that they had an investigator that lives in our sector, but they didn't know exactly in what part, so they taught her for a little as she had a baptismal date for the end of December.  We went and talked to her about how she would have to go to church in our ward, and she was super excited about it and was willing to make the change. 

Honestly, just a week of miracles.  The Lord blessed us in so many different ways.  We are super excited for all of the potential that we have here in the Centenario Ward!!

Love you all, Elder Copeland

As well, we passed by Cayambe today to go see some of my converts there, and it was probably one of the best moments of my life. I almost cried being able to see them again.

Interesting Photos of the week:

A whole pig hanging by the side of the street.