Week 42 - May 14, 2018

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! 

Love you, Mommy.  I know that I already talked to some of you guys yesterday, but... This is what happened week!

Tuesday.  Today we had a lesson with Karen, and we talked to her about a lot of things.  We came with a member and her boyfriend who is already member.  We talked to her about how she could recognize the Spirit, and it was going good and we asked her boyfriend how he has felt the Spirit before in his life.  So that was a bummer hearing that from a member and it didn´t help us at all teach Karen.  After, we stopped by and taught Paola, and we were a little nervous that maybe she changed her mind about her baptism and her wedding and we got everything set up.  She´s really excited. She will be getting married May 21st and now has a baptismal date for the June 2nd.  She´s such a good example of faith to me.  After, we went to a birthday party of some of our investigators and we were in charge of the food so we cooked some Burritos.  I had a little kid try and take a photo of it, but he didn´t press hard enough on the button, so I don´t have a picture now.  Sorry...

Wednesday.  Today I had interchanges with Elder Miranda )Bolivia.=  He came over to our sector and it was pretty fun. We had a day that was kind of rough, but we were able to get some things done.  We had a lesson with one of our recent converts and his brother was there, and wow the dude was so rude!  He started the conversation bashing on USA and Bolivia, then he starting talking bad about the church.  Haha it was really interesting but we made it through and were able to teach Felix about the importance of Family History.  That was basically our day though, and about every single lesson fell through.

Thursday.  Today we started the day off going to do some service for a member in the other ward.  We had to carry some things over to their little store that they have haha. After, we went and visited Bismark and it was pretty cool.  We have been talking to him about D/C and he´s really interested in it.  I don´t know how else we can help the guy get baptized though.  Then, after we had another day of lessons falling through.  Besides one, we passed by and she struggles with reading.  We had to explain again to her how we read the scriptures and how there are chapters and verses.  I told her that she had to read Chapter 2... and she read, "Chapter 2," and she thought that she did such a good job and yeah it was awesome.  But that is not what I meant haha.  

Friday.  Today we started off going to fill out the baptismal paper of Danna and Ninoska.  We were able to teach them about baptism a little more.  After, we went and visited family Sosa and they are so awesome.  I told their little kids that I´m from Africa and that I speak African, and they have believed me for a whole month now haha.  They always ask me to speak African and I just say jibberish and do weird sounds and they think that it is so funny haha.  But the parents understand everything and want to be baptized, but they just don´t want to come church every Sunday.  So, it´s the biggest bummer because they also came to the activity that we had at night.  But I´m hoping for a miracle for them.  After, the Elders from Aire Libre have had a problem with something, so I had to go over to their sector and teach one of their investigators with Elder Ellsworth.  After, I came back here to our sector and we had an activity in the church for Mothers'
Day.  Obispo asked me 10 seconds before the activity that I had to give a thought about mothers, so I basically just was up there for 5 minutes bragging about Mom.  Haha but it was a fun activity.  We were able to have some investigators come, which was awesome.

Saturday.  Today, I had an interview of an investigator in Aire Libre.  Her name is Myra.  She's 26 years old, and she was really cool.  She was really nervous for the interview, so it was pretty awkward haha, but she did pass her interview and it was all good.  After, we came back and were able to finally teach one of our investigators that we have been looking for, for the last four weeks.  So that was a blessing.  After, we had the baptism of Danna and Ninoska, and it was so amazing.  I say the same thing every time when we have baptisms.  It´s because it´s just without doubt one of the best feelings on the planet.  Being able to see children of God trust in him.  It was such a good night.  

After, we found out about transfers and my companion is leaving and I´m going to receive some guy from Peru!  So, I´ll let you know more about him in the future haha. 

Sunday. Today was the confirmation of Danna and Ninoska, and it was all good.  Another great experience to be a part of. We spent the rest of the day saying bye to our investigators with my comp.  Also, I got to call my family.  It was such a great experience.  It helped me a lot to keep pushing to be better and work harder.  But ,that was basically my week. 

Book of Mormon.  This week, I was able to finish the Book of Mormon.  I did a study for the past four months about the Book of Mormon, looking for each time that the people fell into temptation.  I studied how we can avoid temptation, the blessings we receive when we are obedient, and the consequences of when we aren´t obedient.  One thing that I learned is that it is not that hard to stay firm in the church.  We just need to be humble and have charity.  If you want a good example, read Moroni 7, the best chapter in the Book of Mormon.

A photo of the District

Family Night with Paola

Love you all, Elder Copeland

Week 41 - May 7, 2018

Hello, Family! 

Wanted to start with a shout out to Hannah.  Her birthday was this past week.  Love and miss you so much, Hannah! Everyone can give her a big hug for me--besides any boys. Love you so much, Hannah!

Tuesday.  We started the day off with a District Council, which was so powerful.  I promised my district that if they all were able to find 15 people, I would buy them ice cream. They all got really excited, and we ended having a lot of really good ideas to change the way that we are doing things in our district.   

(Elder Copeland bought ice cream for his district because they met the goal of finding 15 people.  They were very excited about reaching the goal and, also, having ice cream!)

After, we had a lot of our appointments fall through, which was kind of rough, but we were able to end up finding some people.  One of the guys, while we were walking on the street, called us over and my companion said no because he was scared of him.  But I just felt like I had to talk to him, so we went and he told us some things about his life and how he was in jail about a year ago.  We ended up teaching him a great lesson about repentance!  The Spirit was so strong.  After, we stopped by a new convert and he was telling us how he´s going though a really hard time, and we tried to help him out.  He told us that he´s really struggling because his daughter's birthday is tomorrow and how he doesn´t even have enough money to buy her a cake... That hit me pretty hard, but I know that the Lord will bless him.

Wednesday.  Today we did what is called an Invasion.  It´s when all of the missionaries in one district go to one sector and just go and knock a bunch of houses.  So we went to the sector of Aire Libre and went and contacted some houses.  I went with Elder Fernandez, and we were able to find some cool people, but one of them was a great experience for me. We were knocking this guy's house and some old ladies yelled at us and told us that he´s a guy that doesn´t love God.  But we stayed at the door and waited for him, and he walked out and we asked if we could enter his house and teach him, and he told us to come in. So we went in and got to know him really well, and I asked if I could say anything in a prayer for him to start the message and he teared up and just said, "I just want to be able to see my son...¨ We taught an incredible lesson after, and he told us at the end that right when he saw us at the door, he knew that he had to let us teach him.  It was such a testimony builder.  After, we went and visited some of our investigators and were able to teach them more about baptism and get them ready for baptism. They are so smart, and I´m really excited for their baptism.

Thursday.  Today I had a division with Elder Fernandez, and he came her to my sector.  During the division, we also did another invasion.  We are able to find a decent amount of people here in our sector.  I was able to find some awesome people including a guy that used to live in my old sector, CAYAMBE!  That made me so happy just to hear about that place again.  We were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon, and he got pretty excited about it.  After, we went to the house of Karen and asked her how she is doing, but she is just doubting a lot.  We had one of the most spiritual lessons with her.  We just asked her if she could feel the Spirit, and she just denied everything.  It was so sad, because I know that the Spirit was there.  She is just really struggling because her mom is really Catholic and is making her doubt everything that she has received.  So that was kind of a bummer. 

Friday.  MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!!  Haha I hope you guys had the best Star Wars day today.  I told my companion and he said he didn´t care about any movie that has space monkeys... Chewbaca is a Wookie, not a space monkey.... haha but after we had divisions with the Zone Leaders in their sector.  I went with Elder Ericksen )San Diego, California= and we went out to this part of their sector, and we had zero appointments confirmed.  But we ended up finding six people and putting a baptismal date on one of their investigators!!  It was such a good experience.  Elder Ericksen is a great missionary.  It was awesome to be with him for the day.

Saturday.  Today we got up early and played some basketball with the Zone Leaders.  My first time playing basketball in nine months and wow I am awful haha.  After, we were able to go back to our sector and talk to one of our investigators that really wants to get baptized but is not married.  We were able to talk about doing an activity to help her gain some money to get married and after baptized!  And she agreed!  AW I´m so happy for her.  After, we went to Forestal and did another invasion.  We were able to find 16 people in 2 hours there!!  It was so awesome.  It showed me that here if you want to have success, you just have to get up and go to work.  After the invasion, we went over to our chapel and were supposed to have the interviews of our two investigators, but they said that they wanted to attend the baptism of their friend first and the good thing is, is that the baptism of their friend was like 15 minutes away.  So we got to go see a baptism of four people in the Tolita.  After, they had their interview and passed with ease!  We ended the day looking for more people to find and just talking in the street to the people and were able to find a really cool family that used to listen to the missionaries about 20 years ago.  Another daily miracle!

Sunday.  We were able to have some of our investigators come to church today, which again was such a blessing.  After, we had a lesson with one of the guys that we found earlier this week, and he presented us to his wife and it was a great lesson.  He´s like the counselor of the Priest in his church.  But he thought that our message was very interesting and wants to continue listening to us in the future. After, we stopped by a less-active ex-missionary and talked to him about coming back to church.  I hope he does because the dude is hilarious.  After, we stopped by a family that aren´t all members.  We are trying to baptize the dad. We were able to watch a video with them.  We talked to them about how he needs to think about his family and how he can bless them.  So we are hoping that will be able to make him think a little more about baptism.

Photos:  At the beach again

Love, Elder Copeland

Week 40 - April 30, 2018

Hello, friends and family! 

Hope everything is good back at home in the mission field! Pretty good week her in Esmeraldas, Ecuador!

Tuesday.  Today we were able to pass by the house of Paula again, and she just told us straight up that she really wants to get baptized.  She basically told us straight up what she has to do to get baptized.  And all it is, she has to get married. She wants to get married but her husband doesn't really care about the church (he's a member.)  So we talked to her about the power of prayer as a family and how that can help them as a family be united.  After, we had another lesson with Xomaira, and we were able to teach her some things about when Jesus came here to the Americas.  She loved it and finally accepted the baptismal question.  So that was an awesome lesson with her.  I'm excited to be able to teach her again.  We ended the day contacting for three hours haha. We couldn't find anybody...

Wednesday.  Today, early in the morning, we went to go and visit Danna and Ninoska so that we could help them get ready for their baptism.  They are starting to get really excited for their baptism, so that will be awesome!  After, we had to go to the terminal and get Elder Ellsworth because his companion had emergency changes to a different sector and Elder Ellsworth's new companion wasn't going to get to the sector until Friday, so Elder Ellsworth stayed with us until Friday.  We started off by contacting a reference that we received, and she was pretty cool.  She's from Columbia and almost got baptized about five years ago.  So I'm pretty excited about her.  WE ended the day talking to some of our investigators about the Book of Mormon.  They have had a lot of doubts about it, so we showed them how important it is and how they need to have it in their life.  It was such a good lesson.  The Spirit was really strong.

Thursday.  Today, we started off teaching this one new girl about the importance of Joseph Smith.  She has had lots of doubts, so we just promised her to read everyday for five minutes and she will gain a testimony.  After, we passed by Paula again and talked to her about a lot of things.  Her husband was with us this time, and we were able to talk about their relationship and how they need to get married. They both said that they want to get married!  So we are trying to set up an activity so that they can raise some money to get married.  The rest of the day was like any other day in the mission--looking for people to teach in the burning heat. BUT we were able to find one person this time, so I'm excited to be able to go back and teach her again.  Also, I completed 9 MONTHS here in the mission today.  Time is so crazy!  It goes by so fast.  I'm feeling a lot better with everything.  I'm used to the mission and the schedule now.  Spanish is still kind a pain, but I'm getting better every single day, which is good.  But more important, my testimony has grown so much.  Without doubt, this is the Church of Jesus Christ.

Friday. Today we had an appointment in the morning with a member to meet his family.  But it turns out that his family lives outside of our sector, so we won't be able to teach them, which was kind of a bummer.  After, we went to the terminal and waited for the Elder Mayberry, the new Elder in our district.  He ended up getting there pretty late.  So he and Elder Ellsworth went back over to their sector.  After, we went to the house of Karen and prepared her for her interview. S he has gotten really scared, but we were able to help her a lot.  We ended the day going to the mission call opening of a member.  He's going to be going to Guatemala South mission.  I'm so excited for him.  He's going to be such a good missionary.

Saturday.  Today we did a lot of verification with our investigators.  We passed by their houses and to make sure that they were reading and to remind them about church.  But we also passed by Bismark for the first time in a long time. He told us that he created a group for teenagers that have depression.  It's really cool and all, but I just don't understand the guy.  He told us that our church is the best church that there is on the planet.  But he doesn't want to be baptized hahah.  It's so confusing... After, we had the interview of Karen, and we were all excited for her and she did awesome, but she has to do another interview.  We talked to her about the interview after, and she said that she wants more time now.  So that was a dagger for us, because we know that she is ready.  She is just starting to doubt some parts of her testimony...

Sunday.  Today we had a Multi-Stake meeting.  So we had to go to the Stake Center and we were able to hear from the Area Presidency.  It was a great meeting.  I learned a lot from it.  After, we stopped by the house of Karen to see how she was feeling and she felt all good, and then her mom went crazy haha... Her mom is really Catholic but likes our church, and she just started yelling at us and Karen, saying that she has to learn more and that she doesn't understand what she is doing.  So now Karen is doubting even more than she was before... So that was really hard for us.  After, we stopped by another investigator that has been progressing, but he's too scared to be baptized, so we just talked to him about the importance of prayer.  I felt really good about the lesson and that it will help them as a family get closer.  After, we visited some old investigators and they were really excited to see the missionaries again, so I hope that can get them a little more excited to start progressing again.

Some yummy drink of some animal and dirt. 

At the beach.

Love, Elder Copeland

Week 39 - April 23, 2018

Hello again, family and friends. 

The weeks here are going faster and faster every week.  It's so crazy how fast time goes by in the mission.  I'm loving it here so much.  Shoutout to Connor!   His birthday was yesterday.  Let him know how much you love him.  Don't know where I would be without him and his example.  I've been so blessed to have the best family ever.  Happy Birthday, Connor!  Love YOU!

Tuesday.  Today, we started the day off pretty well but frustrating at the same time.  We had our District Council, but some of the Elders showed up really late so we weren't able to take advantage of the whole time, which was kind of frustrating.  After, we had a couple lessons in the afternoon that were awesome.  We have been teaching this one nurse and she is so cool.  She understands everything so well. After, we went to a house of a girl that used to talk to the missionaries about 6 years ago, and we talked to her for awhile.  She honestly lives such a hard life.  I felt so bad for her.  I hope that she can keep progressing so that she can live a better life.  It's the best part about the gospel.  It doesn't matter what happens in our life.  If we live the gospel, we will always find happiness.  After, we finished the day teaching Diego, and he's got to be one of my favorite people I've met in the mission.  He's progressing so well.

Wednesday.  Today, I had divisions in Aire Libre with Elder Guerrero.  He's from my group.  We arrived the same day. He's from Ecuador.  But we went to visit some of their investigators and they are so awesome.  Their sector is really cool.  It's really hilly and is like a jungle with the trees and stuff.  It's always really cool to be able visit other sectors and see how much different they are.

Thursday.  Today, while we were contacting in the afternoon, we received a call from the Elders in Forestal, and they called us asking for help because one of the Elders was sick and couldn't leave the house, so we had to head over to their sector and help them teach a lesson.  We were able to put a baptismal date on one of their investigators, which was so awesome.  We got back to our sector in the pouring rain and just contacted for awhile.  It's usually really hard to find people while it's raining, but today we found someone.  That was so awesome. 

Friday.  Today, we started the day off doing service for some of the members in the other ward, which was really fun.  After, we went with some of the members in the ward and helped them feel what it's like to be a missionary again.  We contacted for about two hours, haha.  It was so long in the blazing heat!  l felt so bad for them, but it will help them a lot because they have no idea what they are about to walk into haha.  But at the same time, I'm so excited for them to go out and serve the Lord.

Saturday.  Today, we started the day off going to Tolita, the sector of the Zone Leaders to introduce them to Diego.  It turns out that we won't be able to baptize Diego here in our ward because he does not live in our sector.  So we received permission to be able to still teach him and he is still our investigator, he just will have to attend the other church.  It's kind of sad, but at the same time, I'm so happy how willing he was to be able to change wards.  After, we went to teach Alejandro and Karly.  They are so close to baptism.  We tried to put a baptismal date on them, but they were too scared to accept it, so that was pretty frustrating.  But that was alright because after we had a BAPTISM!!  Felix was baptized today and it was so amazing.  It was one of the best feelings on the planet being able to see him get baptized.  He brought all of his family that are not members to the baptism, and he's just so awesome.  All of the baptisms are unforgettable events. We were also able to have two baptisms of little 8-year-old girls in the ward, and one of them was so amazing.  She did a spiritual thought and sang a solo.  It was so adorable. Great day.

Sunday.  Today, we had the confirmation of Felix and it was so amazing again.  He was so happy at the confirmation.  We also had one of our investigators come to church and told us that she wants to get baptized.  It made me so happy.  But the problem is, is that she is not married and she lives with her boyfriend and she doesn't want to get married to him.  They have a kid together, so I feel like marriage should be a easy thing to do.  So that is something that I don't really understand hahah, but were are hoping to find a solution to help her get baptized.  Today, we also had lunch with one of our mommitas and the husband showed up drunk and he was so out of it.  He just kept asking me to speak in English, and he thought it was so funny.  We had some other awesome lessons today and were able to celebrate the birthday of one of the members, which was pretty fun.  To finish the day, we went to visit a recent convert and talk to her two daughters who never got baptized.  We were able to put a baptismal date on the both of them, which is so freaking awesome.  We have been able to work a lot with our investigators, and we are seeing a lot of blessings here in Propicia!  Great day today.

Book of Mormon.  I feel like every single week I find something in the Book of Mormon that I like better and better. This week I have been able to do a lot of studying in the time when Christ came to the Americas.  And I passed over some of the most impactful verses that I have ever read, in 3 Nephi 15:24 we read:  "But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me."  WOW! Unreal!  Could you imagine being there in that situation!  They have been listening about Christ their entire life and they had so much faith, and Christ just told them how important they were to him.  This one verse is so powerful to me, and I immediately knew that the Book of Mormon was true.  Two chapters after we read about how Christ was about to return to his Father and he said a prayer for them, and the multitude was so grateful for the prayer.  It says, "So great was the joy."  The people just wanted a little bit more time with Christ.  And Christ says in 3 Nephi 17:20-21, "And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith.  And now behold, my joy is full. 21 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, ONE by ONE, and blessed them, and prayed unto the father for them."  WOW!  Another incredible part of the Book of Mormon.  These verses show me how much Christ honestly loves us and shows us how much he cares for us.  He took every single one of their little ones and blessed all of them.  It says that there were about 2500 there.  He took time for every single one of them.  That for me is just amazing.  I challenge you guys to read 3 Nephi 17 as a family and give thanks to Heavenly Father for his son Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Some photos of the beach.

Love, Elder Copeland

Week 38 - April 16, 2018

Hello again.

Tuesday.  Today, we started the day off early with a lesson with one of our investigators named Diego.  He's a younger  guy, but he's so awesome.  We were talking to him about what he's going to do after his baptism if he was going to stay active for ever, and he was direct and said that he wants to be baptized.  But later we found a problem that kind of sucks. He doesn't live in our sector, but he's always here visiting with his girlfriend, but we cannot baptize him until he either moves to our sector or the other missionaries teach him.  So that's been a pretty frustrating process.  I hope that we can find a solution to get him baptized.  After, we had a lesson with another young girl and her boyfriend.  He is a member but doesn´t want to come to church, but she does.  It´s so frustrating, but we taught her more about the Book of Mormon and she´s starting to progress a lot.  We just have to help them get married first.  To finish the day, we went to teach this one girl that we found the other day.  She was really cool.  She had a bunch of questions for us and she told us that she was going to come to church.  We ended up passing by an investigator's (Felix) house who has been out of town for awhile now because his mom passed away.  We passed by thinking that we were going to have to push back his baptism date because he would be sad, but he surprised us and told us that he wants to be baptized earlier!!  Haah I'm so excited for him.  He's so awesome.

Wednesday.  Today we brought two members with us the whole day to help prepare them for the mission.  Haha it was so fun.  We had a bunch of lessons fall through so we were able to pretty much show them the life of a missionary perfectly--walking door to door in the burning heat, just not being accepted by anyone.  But they battled through and were just dead by the end of the day.  Basically the  only lesson we had today was in the morning with some teenager, and we just talked more about the Book of Mormon with him. But he just barely got a new job and it´s going to be really hard for him to come to church...

Thursday.  Zone Conference was today so we were able to hear from President.  I've said it about 100 times that he is so amazing and I'll say it again.  He is the President on the planet, without doubt.  He is not only making us better missionaries but he is preparing us for the rest of our lives.  It's helped me so much.  

After the conference, we were able to pass by the house of Felix and talk to him more about baptism and what we have to do.  He was so excited.  He's a such a great guy.

Friday.  Today we passed by the house of Bismark again (the one who finished the Book of Mormon in a week) and talked to him about family search and he loved it.  He's hands down one of the most confusing guys I've ever met.  He believes the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but he does not want to get baptized.  He says he doesn't believe in religion, but if there was one that was true it would be our church... Haha he's so amazing, but it´s kind of frustrating because he knows everything is true, he just won´t take the next step.  After, we were finally able to find a family that we have been looking for since I've got here, and they are awesome, but it´s hard with them because the husband works in the Military and he doesn't really believe in God.  To finish the day,  we stopped again by Felix to prepare him for his baptismal interview Saturday. 

Saturday.  Today, before lunch, we stopped by this house of four sisters. They´re all so crazy, and we are working really hard with them to get them baptized.  After, we had the interview of Felix and he passed.  He was so happy.  I´m not going to lie.  I was a little nervous for him, but he did awesome in his interview.  After, we were able to find a new investigator and her daughter about how they will be able to see their husband-brother again and they got really interested.  We left them with some things that they need to do, and I´m really excited to return and see how they did. After, we finished the night with Karen, her mom, and her brother.  They are honestly so crazy.  Her mom is really Catholic and she just gets mad at us, but also believes that our church is true haha.  The people here in the coast are so interesting, but I love them so much. 

Sunday.  Today, we had a pretty good day.  We had some investigators come to church.  But in the second hour, we have a class for all of the new investigators and the new recent converts.  The mom of Karen got really frustrated in class and was getting frustrated, like the whole lesson.  We taught about repentance and she got really bugged.  It was so funny.  She and another member were arguing about repentance.  After, in the Elders Quorum, the teacher had no idea how to teach, so we just sat there and listened to somebody read in a Liahona about a message from a prophet.  Haha It's a different world here in the Coast.  After, we had a good day finding some investigators for the first time in awhile.  It was a pretty good day.  Some funny things happened during the day.  We were walking in the street and this little 6 year old girl yelled for us and we asked her about how her day was and she flipped us off and slammed the door shut haha.  After, we were in a lesson with some investigators and her little two-year-old girl was sitting on a chair just playing with her toy and all of the sudden we hear a bunch of liquid noise hit the ground.  The little girl was just peeing her pants just sitting there so innocent hahaha!  It was so disturbing!

Today, we didn't really do much.  I've been sick all day, so we just chilled in the house, but everything will be all good.

Book of Mormon.  I was reading in 1 Nephi 17 when Nephi is commanded to build a boat and how his brothers didn´t believe him.  His faith in this chapter is incredible for me.  I advise you to read this chapter and look for ways that you can apply the same mentality as Nephi.

Love, Elder Copeland

Week 37 - April 9, 2018

BAT!

Wow!  It is hot here... Haha!  You have no idea!  It's equivalent to Nicaragua hot.  It´s very humid here, and when there is sun, you don´t have a chance.  Complete different world here in the coast, but so awesome.  I´m so excited to be here!  The food here is so much better.  But one thing they do here is they give you a boiling hot soup every single lunch, and while you´re eating it, you´re just dripping in sweat haha.

Tuesday.  Today I was able to write you guys a little bit because I was not able to during Pday.  But after that, we were able to have some success.  We went and talked to some investigators, and they are so cool.  I´m still getting used to the accent here in the coast.  It´s really different. The people here are so accepting and awesome.  But one lesson that we had was with a family that half are members and others not.  They asked us to share a message at their house about the Spirit World because their brother died about four years ago on this day.  So we were able to share a message with them.  It was really cool. 

Wednesday.  Today we started the day off with a bat entering our house and trying to eat me.  I had to get a blanket and capture him.. Haha  It was so funny! 

My comp was freaking out.  His name is Elder Fernandez, he's from Mexico.  He is so awesome.  He´s a convert, he was baptized about two years ago, and now he´s here on the mission.  We were able to get rid of the bat.  After, we got out of the house and were able to find some new investigators. After awhile looking for some other investigators, we were able to talk to this family that has a baptismal date and they were so amazing.  The husband works in the Military, so it´s kind of hard to find them, but we talked to them for a little bit, and I´m so excited to get to know them a little better.

Thursday.  Today we spent most of the day at a park to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the church in Esmeraldas, and it was pretty cool.  We weren´t really celebrating, we just went contacting and looking for more people.  It´s really the only way we can celebrate as missionaries... looking for more people haha.  But after, we spent a lot of time looking for some investigators that were not there haha.  But we were able to end up finding some lessons later in the day.  We found this young couple that is so awesome.  We were able to talk to them about the importance of the Book of Mormon. They were such amazing people.  After, we were able to talk to this one guy that my companion has been teaching for a little.  He´s amazing!  He finished the Book of Mormon in a week and a half... Haha.  He loves it and knows that it is true, but he doesn´t want to be baptized right now... but honestly, he´s such a good guy.

Friday.  Today we had a lesson early in the morning with a young couple that was pretty cool.  The guy's grandma walked out and told us that we need to keep helping his kid because he doesn´t do anything with his life haha.  After this, we basically spent the rest of the day looking for people with a little success.

Saturday.  Today was a great day.  We had a lesson with a member's boyfriend, and he is so awesome.  He wants to get baptized and is pretty much ready.  He just has a situation where we have to wait a little bit longer for him to be baptized.  But after, we contacted and were able to find some awesome people.  To finish the day, we had another family night with some investigators, that was awesome.

Sunday.  My first Sunday here in the coast and it was very different.  Here in the coast, they need a lot of leadership help.   But the people honestly are so amazing, and it made me so excited to keep helping them here.  After, we had a great lesson with this one girl about Alma 32.  She told us that she really wants to get baptized, but she said that she doesn´t have the money to be married right now... It´s a big problem here.  Nobody is married.  It´s frustrating as a missionary, but I´m really excited to start helping her change her life. 

But life is all good here in the coast.  Not too crazy of a week. I hope that you all had a great Spring Break.  I know that here in Esmeraldas is way better then wherever you are in the world.

 

Today we went to the beach and played some kickball.

Usually I do a thought from the Book of Mormon, but I´ve been reading in the Bible as well.  I found a verse that I like a lot.  It´s in the book of Romans 8Ñ28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."  Everything will work for together for the good, to them that love God.  I love that line so much.  It´s my new motivation.  I´ve got it hanging on the wall to always remember.  God loves us and it´s such a blessing in our lives.  Everything will work out for the good! Don´t forget!  Love, Elder Copeland

 Yes, and a lizard, too!

Some cool fruit here!

Week 36 - April 3, 2018

LA COSTAAA!

My mom's birthday is this next Thursday, just so all of you know.  If you can all tell her how amazing she is and give her the biggest hug for me, that would be awesome.  Love you, Mom.  

It was a pretty good week for me here.  Also, having to deal with transfers.. Also, sorry I was not able to write yesterday.

Monday.  Today after Pday, we were able to pass by a family )Guatamal= for the first time in like 3 months.  They have been one of my favorite families in the mission, but they just never have time.  They are in a really hard situation, but we were able to talk about the Plan of Salvation a lot and tell them how they can be with their family again.  It made them so happy.  I´m really hoping that a lesson like this one can help them come to the church and really change their lives. After, we were able to pass by fam Madruñero and talk to them for awhile.  Wow!  I love them so much.

Tuesday.  Today for our District Council, we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  During this week, we are trying to focus everything that we do with the Atonement of Christ. After, we received a call from this guy that we met about five weeks ago.  He told us that he needed help for his daughter in English.  So we told him that we would love to.  He asked where we were and he came and picked us in his taxi with his family.  After, we were just talking in his car and he took us to get some Bizcochos ).  It's a really popular food here in Cayambe= and we were able to talk a lot about the church. We were able to finish the day talking to a family that has been a little inactive.  They are so cool.  I hope so badly that they can be reactivated.

Wednesday.  Today I had divisions with Elder Beckstead.  It was so fun.  He´s honestly one of my best friends, such a good guy.  But here in Cayambe, it´s been pretty hard this week because we are in a period when everyone is working a lot.  They all work in flowers and everyone is getting ready for Mothers Day.  If you didn´t know, about every flower in America that you buy is from here in Cayambe or Tabacundo, my sector.  So if you guys go and buy one, basically it´s from me.  But we spent the day looking for a lot of investigators that we weren´t able to find.  So we finally ended the day finding some old investigators that I taught forever ago.  It was a pretty fun day--always fun to be with other missionaries and learn from them.

Thursday.  Today was another pretty good day.  We are able to find this one girl that used to listen to the missionaries about 10 years go.  So we talked to her about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel.  I've honestly taught this lesson about 1000 times and nobody understood the listen better than she did.  We asked her what she got out of the lesson and she went off for about five minutes explaining everything.  It was so amazing.  After, we helped the girl that needed help in English.  They had to film us and she just asked me questions in English.  Haha it was so funny.  She had no idea what she was saying or what I said.  We ended the day talking to a family that not all of them are members. We were able to talk to them about the Atonement, also.  It´s such a fun topic to talk about.

Friday.  Today was honestly a really hard day.  We started off with trying to find one of our investigators and after awhile we finally found him so drunk... It was so sad.  We asked him what was going on and he told us how his girlfriend left him and went with someone else.  Now he hates his life.  It was so sad.  One of the worst and saddest things I've seen yet. But you can´t change their decisions in their life.  After this, we just went looking for our investigators and nobody was there.

Saturday.  Today we went up to Otavalo and watched conference.  I was able to watch in in English with some other Elders, which was so awesome.  Conference was so good!  Oh my gosh!  President Russell M. Nelson is without doubt a prophet of God.  I know that God guides his church through these men.  I´m so grateful for them and their words. I loved how much they talked about, the importance of temples and temple work.  At the end of the night, we also had to stay the night in Otavalo.  But more important we found out what was going to happen for transfers and it turns out that I´m..... Leaving Cayambe Ñ)  After almost 5 months there, I´m leaving.  I will be going to the COAST!!  I´m heading to a sector called Propicia.  I don´t know too much about it.  All I know is that it is extremely hot haha. 

Sunday. Today we finished watching more of conference and it was another two great sessions.  But the highlight for me was the new temples.. One IN RUSSIA!!  WHAT__ But even more important NICARAGUA!!  Shout out to Connor and TMac for working so hard there to get a temple there for those amazing people!  After, we returned to Cayambe and went and said bye to everyone.  Fam Cabascongo, Fam Trujillo, Fam Madruñero, and Fam Cholango.  And honestly, it was so hard, hands down one of the hardest things I´ve ever had to do.  I´m going to miss Cayambe so much.  But even more important, the people.  Those people changed my life forever, and I will never forget them.  I can´t wait to get back and see them.

Monday. Today, honestly, I have been traveling in a bus all day.  It took about 8 hours to get to my new sector.  I've only gotten to know a little about the sector since I've been here. We had a lesson to end the day with an investigator, and it was so awesome.  We were able to put a baptismal date on her.  The people here on the coast talk pretty different and a lot faster.  But now I´m so excited to be here!  Love, Elder Copeland

 Elder Harris and Elder Bogren with Elder Copeland

Elder Haslam and Elder Bogren with Elder Copeland 

Elder Copeland's District in Otavalo

 Watching Conference.

 Monica and

Pictures of some of the other many people Elder Copeland is going to miss in this area:

Fam Cabascongo, Mataeo, Fam Cholango, Fam Madruñero, Fam Trujillo.

Some party in Cayambe