Week 25 - January 15, 2018

Dear Family,

Tuesday.  Today I was with Elder Johnson for the day in Ibarra.  We were looking around his new sector because he is opening it and it is huge.  We contacted for awhile, and it was pretty cool getting to see another part of Ecuador.  After, we took a 2-hour bus to Quito to wait for our Trainees.

Wednesday.  Today we woke up and had a meeting in Quito with the new missionaries, and then we found out who our new missionaries were.  I got Elder Ton from Mexico.  He was waiting for his visa there for three months and he just got here to Ecuador, so I'm not really training him which kind of sucks hahaha.  But he's such a good guy.  He's a little quiet, but we get along really well.

 Elder Copeland with his new trainee, Elder Ton

 Elder Morton, Elder Copeland, and Elder Johnson

Thursday.  Today we had our first full day in Cayambe.  We started it off with Hno Andres.  He told us that he has been reading and that he's feeling better about his baptism.  He, also, came to church on Sunday, so that was so cool.  He has such a cool story.  He had cancer when he was a kid and all he does is charity events for kids with cancer.  He's such an amazing guy.  He also visited some of our investigators and introduced Elder Ton to them.  It was awesome.

Friday.  Today we got to watch the funeral of President Thomas S. Monson and it was beautiful.  He was such an amazing man.  It's going to be so weird not being able to listen to him anymore.  

After that, we did get to finally teach fam Tamayo again--the family with the cows.  They are doing so well.  They just live so far away, so it's hard for them to come to church.  

Then we taught Fam Cabazcongo.  One of the kids doesn't really listen to us.  He just plays on his phone the whole time, and it's so frustrating, but we taught the other two kids and they want to be baptized.  I hope I can help the kid that plays on the phone.

Saturday. We had a lesson with one of our families with Fecha.  They told us that they want to get baptized.  They have been reading and they believe that this is the true church.  It was such a good lesson, but then after that, her brother walked in soooo drunk and it was honestly pretty funny.  He had no idea what was going on.

Sunday.  Today it rained the entire day, and our mommita cancelled on us, so I cooked some hot dogs ahhaah.  After, we basically contacted for 6 hours in the rain and just not much came.  But at the end of the day, we went to Fam Trujillo and they are still doing so good.  The dad just got called as Second Counselor in the Bishopric.  They are so amazing.  But overall, best birthday ever haha.  (Elder Copeland turned 19 today!)

Elder Copeland's companion gave him this Darth Vader Lego for his birthday, which he thought was pretty great!

For their P-day, Elder Copeland and some of the other missionaries in the area went to a beautiful waterfall.

Week 24 - January 8, 2018

Yeah, so another transfer here done in the mission. 

It's so crazy how fast everything is going by.  This last change literally felt like nothing, soo weird, but it gets better every day.  I'm loving it so much.

Tuesday.  Today I went to Compañia and it was pretty fun.  I went with Elder Lavayan.  It was so fun there.  The sector is straight farm and old indigenous people.  Half of them don't even speak Spanish, only Quichua.  It was so awesome, to be honest though.  We taught one of their ladies with a baptismal date.

Wednesday.  We went back to the house and a huge storm came in.  Our apartment is on the 4th floor and it rained and hailed so bad that the rain got into our apartment and flooded our kitchen, so that was awesome. 

Other then that, we went with one of the Recent Converts (Christian) and contacted so that he can prepare for the mission.  It was so fun.  We, also, taught one of the families we have with a date for baptism.  They are so cool.  Fam Cabazcongo

Thursday.  We honestly contacted pretty much the whole day,. We did get into some important lessons with some guys that have a lot of potential, so I'm excited to keep going with them, but other than that, not much happened today.

Friday.  Today we had so many things.  We met with two of the families that have a baptismal date, and we went with Christian again.  He did so good.  He's already like a missionary, but we gave both of them a baptismal plan and they both accepted.  It was such a miracle.  There are so many miracles happening right now in Cayambe. 

Saturday.  Today we worked for the day and waited for the changes.  We found out that Elder Millett was going to leave the sector and be the secretary.  I'm so grateful for the time that I had with him.  I learned so much from him.  To be honest, he's one of the best missionaries that I know.  I found out that I'm staying in Cayambe and that I'm going to be training somebody, which is so crazy.  I'm so young in the mission, but I'm so excited for this opportunity that I have to train someone.  I don't know who it is or where he's from, so I'll let you know all of that next week!!!

Sunday.  I said bye to ELder MIllett and stayed with the Zone Leaders for the night.  Love, Elder Copeland

I'm with Elder Johnson right now waiting for our trainees, so here's a photo.

Week 23 - January 1, 2018

New Year--New Me!

Honestly, not too much happened this week.  Everyone was traveling and enjoying this season.  So sorry for the lame email.  Hope everyone had the best New Years ever.

(Crossing bridges - 2018)

Tuesday.  We had a lesson with a guy.  His life has been awful lately.  His mom has cancer and his wife and kid left him.  I feel so bad for him, but he told us that he has never prayed before and we taught him how, and he just started  crying after his first prayer ever.  It was unreal--one of the cooler experiences yet.

Wednesday.  Today I went on an interchange and we basically contacted the entire day and had some Bible bashes.  That's it haah.

Thursday.  Today we met a family that has been inactive for 14   years and now we're teaching their kids.  They are so cool.  They had so many questions for us.  They're such an amazing family, and I hope we can continue to work with them.

Friday.  Another day of contacting the whole day, but I love it.

Saturday.  We had some awesome lessons this week.  One of them is this new family, and they are so cool.  We taught them about prophets and now they want to know everything so bad.  Also, we had a lesson with another guy and he had read all of 1 Nephi in 7 days.  What an incredible feeling.  He loves the Book of Mormon.  He just needs to change his life around so he can be baptized.

Sunday.  We went to church and then ate, but after we had to go and stay in the house because everyone was partying, so we just watched them.  Love, Elder Copeland

 (New Years)

 (A puppy that looked like Koda--Elder Copeland's family dog that they loved so much.)

Week 22 - December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas, everyone!! 

Elder Copeland was able to call home and talk to his family for Christmas!  They were all thrilled to talk to him!

I hope you all had the best Christmas ever and that you were all able to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Tuesday.  Today I went on a Division with Elder Christensen, which was so fun.  On the way there, this drunk dude started talking to us about how he needs Christ in his life.   After a little, he just started crying so hard.  It was so weird because he kept talking about how Arnold Schwarzenegger is his friend ahahhah.  We went to go teach a guy and we were trying to explain what the word "restoration" meant to this one guy, and he just couldn't understand. We did examples and everything.  After making it as simple as possible, we asked him what it meant and he said basically, a ¨restaurant.¨  Don't know how he got the answer, but he did haha.  Also, I met a missionary that served in Spain and his Mission Presidents were the Deeres from Alpine, so that was so cool

Wendseday.  Today we went up to Otavalo and did another Division with the Zone Leaders.  We had such a cool experience though.  Elder Chistama and I saw this old guy in a wheel chair try and get it to the taxi with the help of his son and his old wife.  So we ran and helped them, and after we walked away, the son came chasing after us and told us that he had to hear our message.  So we did and he loved it.  He told us the story of his life and it's the saddest thing ever.  He got beat as a kid and had no friends.  So he just started painting and his paintings were unreal!  He was one of the coolest guys I've ever met.

Thursday. Not too much crazy happened today.  We taught some of our investigators, and that's basically it.

Friday.  We taught a new guy, and he was so cool.  He told us how much he loved the purpose of our message, and he told us that when we told him that Joseph Smith was a prophet, he just knew right away, which was a cool first.  He was such an awesome guy.

Saturday.  Honestly again, not much happened today.  We contacted in the rain forever and not too much happened.  But still a good day to be a missionary ahah!

Sunday.  After church, we went to go find a cool couple that we found on the bus.  They were so cool to find and they were great people.  Basically, all that happened today.

NAVIDAD we watched Moana and ate Chicken Nuggets for Dinner.  Yeah!  Best Christmas ever!!

With much love, Elder Copeland

 The Volcano of Cayambe

 The Elder that served with the Deeres

My Christmas Eve Lunch.  Waiting for our presents.

NAVIDAD we watched Moana and ate Chicken Nuggets for Dinner.  Yeah!  Best Christmas ever!!

Week 21 - December 18, 2017

Re:  Star Wars

No, I didn't see Star Wars, and yes, I know that it came out.

Tuesday.  Today we went into Quito for a Zone Conference and we went to the house of Pres. Murphey.  It was honestly so fun. 

We talked about some stuff, but something that stuck out to me was something Hna. Murphey said.  She was talking about how missionaries think that Mission Presidents only want numbers and baptisms, but in reality, they just want these people to receive the greatest gift they can receive and that changed my entire aspect of the mission and my investigators.  Great day in Quito though.  We played some games and talked.  It was awesome.

Wednesday. Today was not the most eventful day, to be honest.  We went and taught some investigators, got Fam Madruñero ready for their baptism, and answered all of their doubts.

Thursday.  Today was kind of the same.  We had a really good lesson with one of our investigators, Andres.  He's really cool.  He had cancer when he was a kid, so we talked about the Plan of Salvation.  He loved it  and wants to be baptized.  He just works a lot, so were trying to help him be able to come to church.

Friday.  Today I went on an Interchange with Elder Vega (he's from my group, from California) and it was so cool.  I got to meet all of their investigators and they were so cool. That's the best part about going on interchanges.  You get to see all of these amazing people that are trying so hard to change their life.  And even better, I get to be a little part of it. 

Saturday.  Today was the baptism of Fam Madruñero and it was so amazing--one of the coolest things I've been part of. I got to baptize the mom and the cool part about it is, is that she was born on the same day and year of my mom (love you, Mom.)  But Christian was baptized before I got here, so he got to baptize his little brothers.  He's planning on going on a mission when he turns 18.  Ahhh!  I love them so much.

Sunday.  We got to contact forever today, so that was really fun.  But we got to teach Nancy again and she brought more of her family over, and it was so cool.  They are all so interested now.  We're working really hard with them so that they can have the "best gift on the planet."

Love, Elder Copeland

(Elder Copeland stated:   "A hoarder's house just made of things he found on the street.  And his 100 dogs chained to it.")

Week 20 - December 11, 2017

Boom Boss

Tuesday.  Today was an awesome day.  I got to meet an investigator that has been wanting to talk with us for awhile because her husband just passed away.  She was so happy to see us.  She is doing a lot better now, but it was nice to be able to see her change her perspective on life with the Plan of Salvation, which was such a blessing.

Wednesday.  Wow, what a day today was!  We received a reference from a guy that lives about an hour away, and he told us that he wanted to talk to us.  So we went to go see him and we got to the spot.  It was in the middle of no where. We couldn't find him or contact him, so we said a quick prayer and we called him one more time and he answered. We got to teach his family and everything.  He's had a really hard life, and he loved us.  He told us that God sent us to change his life, so he took photos with us and filmed our lesson with him so he can show his other daughter.  He did come to church and bore his testimony on his one lesson that he had with us. His name is Edison.

Thursday.  Today I went to a different sector with Elder Flores, and it was pretty fun getting to know more of their investigators.

Friday. Today we didn't do too much.  We contacted and found some new investigators that were actually really cool. I'm excited to go with them again.

Saturday.  BOOOM.  First part of the day we went to a giant park we have here in Cayambe.  One of the Elders dressed up as Santa, and we contacted everyone.  It was so fun. 

After, we got everything ready for the baptism.  We baptized Diego (22) Jose David (14) and Mateo (10).  The dad went inactive a while back and really wanted to come back to church--same with his kids. The baptism was so amazing.  It is always the best feeling ever seeing people change their lives.

Fam Trujillo

The Trujillos are all the coolest people ever.  They're like my best friends.  We went fishing with them for P-day. 

The view of the fishing area.

Sunday.  Was a crazy day.  We had a lot of people come to church and also visited a lot of others.  Honestly, just a crazy day, especially because it was raining and lightning the whole time, but we found some amazing people today.

Love, Elder Copeland

 The pictures below show some of the interesting animals the Elders meet up with as they travel throughout their areas!

 A pig with Elder Flores

 A cow licking Elder Copeland

Week 19 - December 4 2017

AHHH, CAYAMBE!

Tuesday.  Today we started off going to visit some references that we got from the missionaries, and they were so cool.  They started reading the Book of Mormon right after the visit, and they came to church, so I'm excited for them. Also, we visited some more of our investigators, and I got to meet them.  They were so cool.

Wednesday.  So in Cayambe, we are so far away from everything so it takes forever to get place to place, but it's honestly the coolest place ever.  We went and taught a young couple that was about an hour away on bus and 15 mins. walking on a dirt road, but it was worth it.  They drove down from their house which is on a mountain on their motorcycle just to listen to us, and they loved it. Their names are Juan and Maria.  They're so cool

Thursday.  Today was a frustrating day.  We contacted the whole day and didn't find too much, but we did teach one of our families that has a baptismal date, which I'm excited about.  They're are so cool.  The little kids are always talking about how they want to go on a mission

Friday.  Today we had to go far away and teach another family, and they loved it, too.  The other family that we taught today are getting baptized this week, and they are so ready. They are honestly so cool.  We're going paint balling with them next Monday.  I'm so excited for their baptism this week.

Saturday.  Today we had the interviews for Fam Truijillo and they all passed. Afterwards, we went to a member's house and cooked some tacos, which was so fun.  They don't know how to cook tacos, so they just asked me and they were soo good.  Wow!  I miss food!  Then we taught Juan and Maria again and they accepted the baptismal Invitation, which was awesome.

Sunday.  So here there are not a lot of members and the chapel is so so so small.  It's weird.  So we got put in charge of teaching 2nd and 3rd hour, which was kind of frustrating and stressful.  After, we went to an investigator's house and she lives literally on top of the mountain.  It was so beautiful, to be honest.  They survive off their farms pretty much.  They have 30 cuye (guinea Pig) waiting to be eaten, and we taught their family after, which was awesome.  Love, Elder Copeland

 View from Pitna Alta