Wow!
I don't even know where to start this week... Without doubt one of the craziest weeks in the mission so far. This week we have been able to see some miracles here in our sector, but wow, it was a hard week! But, we started off the new change with some great experiences.
Let's start with probably the craziest stories of the missions so far... The Adversary was attacking us super hard this week in every aspect. First off, we weren't able to visit some of our investigators with baptismal dates. Second, our SIM card in our phone burned out and didn't allow us to do calls. As well, we didn't have hot water for the baptism. Back to the story.
The baptism we had this Saturday was the baptism of Jose Maigua. Keep in mind--he is 75 years old and doesn't speak a lot of Spanish. We had the baptism scheduled for 4 pm, but we were unable to make any calls with any of the leaders because our phone didn't work. Luckily, a member lent his phone to us for a little bit so that we could do some calls so that we could have hot water in the font as well to get people to come. So, we figured that out and went and filled up the font, but the water was so gross. It honestly looked like pee. But there was nothing that we could to do change that. So, we just left it there haha.
As it finally got to 4 pm, we were just sitting there in the chapel waiting for Jose Maigua to get there and we were there for about 40 minutes. We just couldn't find him... Another problem that we had is that we didn't know where he lived, so we couldn't just stop by and pick him up. So we went and asked one of his friends where he lived and he said he didn't know exactly, but he knew that he lived in a place called Rey Loma (King Hill).
So Elder Fernandez and I decided that we were just going to go and look for him in a place that we had never been. I don't know if you guys know what it's like running at 10,000 feet, but man it's hard. But, we went running up one of the steepest hills that you'd ever seen and finally made it to Rey Loma, basically gasping for air. When we got there, we just went asking literally everybody if they knew Jose and not a single person knew. We told ourselves that it was just a hopeless cause and that we'd never find him, but we thought that we'd ask one more person. We went and asked a woman and she said that she knew Jose and that he lived even higher up on the hill. We went running up the hill hoping that maybe we would be able to find his house or something like that. I don't know how, but honestly I felt like I could have run forever despite the fact that we were above 10,000 feet!
We went and made it to the higher part of the hill, but the problem was is that is like a farm town so there weren't a lot of people to ask. After like 10 minutes, we found a person and she directed us to the house of Jose. We knocked on the door and found Jose!! It was such a miracle! We took a taxi down to the chapel and had the baptism! Wow! It was so amazing! I truly understood the words of Alma when he said, "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethern, the Lamanites (or REY LOMA) and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success," (Alma 26:27) or when Nephi says, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." Such a testimony builder! We truly were guided by the Spirit this day, and were able to see God work miracles.
As well, this week we were able to put on some more baptismal dates on some investigators that we have. One of them is named Alex. He is 20 years old and is a reference that we received from some Elders in the mission. Wow, is he is prepared! He is super excited to come to church and everything. He is progressing a ton and we were able to put a baptismal date on him for January.
Every week as a Zone, we have had the goal to do service in a new sector. This week we went over to Punyaro and did service in the famous cemetery. We just went to clean everything up, and there were so many people. We got to meet a lot of cool people. As well, we were meeting this guy that was digging up this grave and we asked him what he was doing. He told us that he was digging up a hole for someone that just died and wanted to be buried in that spot. I guess they don't use caskets here to bury the dead because he was just digging up old people's clothes and dead bones haha. It was so gross. He said he was going to throw the clothes away and just put the bones back in the hole with the new body that was going to come in.
This week, I was reading in the Book of Helaman. It's honestly a super interesting book. I think without doubt that Helaman 5 is one of the best chapters in the Book of Mormon. We learn about Nephi and Lehi teaching the Lamanites in the fire. A part interesting to me is that while there is is cloud of darkness, they heard the Spirit three times. It took until the 3rd time that they could actually understand what the Spirit was telling them. I wonder how many times had they actually heard that voice tell them they should repent. It's so important in our lives to learn how we can understand the Spirit the first time. Also, to understand that the Spirit doesn't only teach the righteous like the Nephites, but as well, the wicked, like the Lamanites. And like Nephi and Lehi, they helped them understand the voice that speaks to them. It's also important to be able to help others recognize the voice of the Spirit. Like the Lamanites, help them become true Disciples of God.
Crazy week, love you all. Elder Copeland
I don't even know where to start this week... Without doubt one of the craziest weeks in the mission so far. This week we have been able to see some miracles here in our sector, but wow, it was a hard week! But, we started off the new change with some great experiences.
The baptism we had this Saturday was the baptism of Jose Maigua. Keep in mind--he is 75 years old and doesn't speak a lot of Spanish. We had the baptism scheduled for 4 pm, but we were unable to make any calls with any of the leaders because our phone didn't work. Luckily, a member lent his phone to us for a little bit so that we could do some calls so that we could have hot water in the font as well to get people to come. So, we figured that out and went and filled up the font, but the water was so gross. It honestly looked like pee. But there was nothing that we could to do change that. So, we just left it there haha.
As it finally got to 4 pm, we were just sitting there in the chapel waiting for Jose Maigua to get there and we were there for about 40 minutes. We just couldn't find him... Another problem that we had is that we didn't know where he lived, so we couldn't just stop by and pick him up. So we went and asked one of his friends where he lived and he said he didn't know exactly, but he knew that he lived in a place called Rey Loma (King Hill).
So Elder Fernandez and I decided that we were just going to go and look for him in a place that we had never been. I don't know if you guys know what it's like running at 10,000 feet, but man it's hard. But, we went running up one of the steepest hills that you'd ever seen and finally made it to Rey Loma, basically gasping for air. When we got there, we just went asking literally everybody if they knew Jose and not a single person knew. We told ourselves that it was just a hopeless cause and that we'd never find him, but we thought that we'd ask one more person. We went and asked a woman and she said that she knew Jose and that he lived even higher up on the hill. We went running up the hill hoping that maybe we would be able to find his house or something like that. I don't know how, but honestly I felt like I could have run forever despite the fact that we were above 10,000 feet!
We went and made it to the higher part of the hill, but the problem was is that is like a farm town so there weren't a lot of people to ask. After like 10 minutes, we found a person and she directed us to the house of Jose. We knocked on the door and found Jose!! It was such a miracle! We took a taxi down to the chapel and had the baptism! Wow! It was so amazing! I truly understood the words of Alma when he said, "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethern, the Lamanites (or REY LOMA) and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success," (Alma 26:27) or when Nephi says, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." Such a testimony builder! We truly were guided by the Spirit this day, and were able to see God work miracles.
Every week as a Zone, we have had the goal to do service in a new sector. This week we went over to Punyaro and did service in the famous cemetery. We just went to clean everything up, and there were so many people. We got to meet a lot of cool people. As well, we were meeting this guy that was digging up this grave and we asked him what he was doing. He told us that he was digging up a hole for someone that just died and wanted to be buried in that spot. I guess they don't use caskets here to bury the dead because he was just digging up old people's clothes and dead bones haha. It was so gross. He said he was going to throw the clothes away and just put the bones back in the hole with the new body that was going to come in.
This week, I was reading in the Book of Helaman. It's honestly a super interesting book. I think without doubt that Helaman 5 is one of the best chapters in the Book of Mormon. We learn about Nephi and Lehi teaching the Lamanites in the fire. A part interesting to me is that while there is is cloud of darkness, they heard the Spirit three times. It took until the 3rd time that they could actually understand what the Spirit was telling them. I wonder how many times had they actually heard that voice tell them they should repent. It's so important in our lives to learn how we can understand the Spirit the first time. Also, to understand that the Spirit doesn't only teach the righteous like the Nephites, but as well, the wicked, like the Lamanites. And like Nephi and Lehi, they helped them understand the voice that speaks to them. It's also important to be able to help others recognize the voice of the Spirit. Like the Lamanites, help them become true Disciples of God.
Crazy week, love you all. Elder Copeland
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