Week 92 - April 29, 2019

Dear Family,

We started this week going to one of our investigators, Cristian, to talk to him about his baptism and some of the commandments.  He is doing super well.  He told us about how excited he was to be able get baptized on his birthday at the end of the month.  Later on, they found out that my companion is a vet, so they asked him to help out one of their little puppies that had a hole in his elbow... So gross.  And inside the hole, there had to have been 30 or more little worms crawling inside of this puppy, and he took out every single one of them.  So gross, put pretty cool haha.

Later on in the week, we decided to go to Elder Bogren's sector, Muisne.  It's just a little island.  We went there and did some service picking up a bunch of trash in the streets, and it was pretty gross.  Many people just don't really take care of their things here.  We found a bunch of cow skulls, shoes, and clothes basically dug into the ground.  But we were able to help a bunch of people out cleaning up their houses and everything.

I was able to do divisions with Elder Vega again here in Atacames.  It was pretty fun to be with him and Elder Bogren in the same house, all of us being from the same group. Elder Vega and I were able to have a good day helping out one of our investigators with date as well, finding some new ones.  But it was a pretty solid day.  We finished the day with a lesson on the beach while the sun was setting.

But the highlight of the week was the baptism on the beach. In Elder Bogren's sector, there is not a baptismal font so they have to baptize in the ocean.  So Elder Bogren's comp didn't feel really well, so I was able to go down there and baptize with Elder Bogren, an unforgettable moment.  It was kind of hard to baptize with the waves in the storm, but it was a day that was super special.

This Sunday, also, was a super good day but we, also, had some pretty sad news.  After church, we got together with six members of the ward and did some divisions to visit as many members as we could.  I went with the Branch President and we were able to visit my convert Antonio.  We found out that he had drunk the other day and it was so sad to see how it affected him... We later gave him a blessing of comfort and strength for him to be able to overcome the temptation that he has been having.  As well, we passed by Christian our investigator with date, and the first thing he told us is how excited he was to be baptized on his birthday and that we are going to do a Family Night later on this next coming week.  As well, we were able to find some more new investigators that are super excited, and we visited Israel and Jessica with basically the entire ward, which was awesome.  There is so much potential here!:)

This week, I finished reading the Book of Mormon again and it always is such an amazing experience.  I really focused on how the prophets reacted to their trials and the faith and the patience they had with themselves, with others, and with God.  I feel like it was a good way to realize how important it is to have patience in the moments of affliction.  I think two of the best examples are Nephi with his last words of 2nd Nephi saying, "and I must obey" as well with Moroni in Mormon 8:3, "And my father also was killed by them, and I even remain ALONE to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But Behold, they are gone, and I fulfill the commandment of my father.  And whether they will slay me, I know not."  Those are two passages super important to me and help me understand that blessings that come for being obedient.  But it doesn't mean that our path becomes a lot easier.  We just become a lot stronger.

Love, Elder Copeland