Week 94 - May 13, 2019

Dear Family,

Well, I guess another week went by again... So crazy, but honestly, this week was the biggest blur ever.  It passed by super fast.  We were super busy.  Also, I was able to talk to Mom yesterday for Mothers' Day.  So weird, I miss her so much and I'm so grateful for her.  Thanks for being the most beautiful mom on the planet.  Also I got to see Otto, so cute, I'll be there soon little guy!;)

Starting off with Israel and Jessica.  We were able to visit them and talk to them a lot about marriage, and they are super excited.  We explained to them about what they have to do to get married.  They went there later on and it turns out they have to get even more documents because Jessica has 2 kids from a different parent.... They explained us that the process to do these papers could take awhile... So annoying, I don't understand like 90 percent of Ecuador's rules.  They are just the worst...  But keep praying for them so that can get married soon and get baptized.  They are so close...

As well, we passed by and were able to teach Christian and talk to him about his baptism, and he is super excited.  He told us about how hard it has been for him these past couple weeks.  His wife just decided out of nowhere that she doesn't want to live with him and moved away with his son.  Now he just lives with two kids and is barley making any money... And so much more, it's just super sad to see good people like him go through so much.  But we were able to talk to him a lot about our Plan that God has for us and get him a little more excited about everything.  He was willing to do everything he needed to!

Other than that, this week we had to help Elder Bogren moved down to his sector which was kind of a pain in the butt... Because they live an hour and half away from our sector and they live on an island, so it just made everything super complicated.  But we finally got them down there.  I'm going to miss living four people in one house.  It was a good time being with them.  But we were able to do divisions down there in their sector, Muisne, which was pretty fun.  It's always fun getting to know new sectors!

Zone Conference was this past week as well.  We were able to see President and Sister Murphy again, which is always the highlight of every transfer.  We talked a lot about praying with faith and the blessings that come from praying with faith. Super good!  I was able to learn a lot!  After, we went to the house of some investigators that are interested in a church. They live in honestly the poorest circumstances I've ever seen in my life.  I took a picture of it just so you guys can see how sad it is.  The two-year old little baby is sleeping on a cardboard box with 100s of flies just flying around him.  They only have enough to eat once a day.  The only thing they eat is the fish that they sometimes catch every morning.... So sad...

This week I was studying in "Come, Follow Me," and I was reading in Luke 15 where it talks about three Parables or stories:  The lost Coin, the lost sheep, and the Prodigal Son. The three stories have a lot of similarities.  All of them include something being lost and found.  Also, they talk about how they were found and how the people react to them being found.  I love the fact that it all includes the message of something being lost, because at some point in each of our lives, I feel like we all will feel lost.  Maybe we are lost like the coin, or a sheep going astray for the path, or even sometimes just making wrong decisions like the prodigal son.  But the message is that each one of us can repent and come back to righteousness or the light of Christ.  God doesn't want a single soul to be lost forever.  Remember verse 10: "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repeneth."  If you know anyone is lost, may we have the love that the father of the Prodigal son had as he "had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." There are way too many people who are lost that need to come back.  We just need to be more like the father and have compassion, rather than the older brother and have anger.

As well, on Sunday, I was able to talk to Angel and Ximena.  They were the very first family that I knew here in Ecuador. They explained to me how many trials they have been going through and have realized that the only way that they are going to be happy here is if they get baptized and married in the temple.  Talked to the Madruñero family as well and Christian is getting ready to do his mission papers and leave at Christmas!!  I love these people so much!

Love you all, Elder Copeland