Week 63 - October 13, 2018

Well, another week here in the mission. 

Honestly, not the craziest week of the mission, but nothing to complain about…

We started of the week with visiting a reference from Cayambe, my old sector!  We went to go and talk to her and wow she was so prepared.  She has felt super sad lately because she lives alone.  Her daughters are grown up and don’t live with her.  Also, her husband cheated on her and left her.  So we came just planning to teach her the normal lesson about the Restoration and stuff which was awesome.  But we had to change everything up and honestly it was amazing the lesson that we had with her.  She told us that she has been needing an answer for a very long time, and she finally received it.  We were so shocked to have received such a miracle… Such a blessing.

As well this week, we were able to visit Jhonny and I don’t know if I’ve ever met some body so prepared in my life for baptism.  We asked him the other day how he was doing with the Word of Wisdom and he looked at us with like a disgusted face and said, "Are you kidding?" You know that I’m not drinking coffee because I know that the Lord commanded us to avoid it.  Hahaha he is so awesome, such a cool guy.  He is progressing super well. We just got off the phone with his daughters that live far away, and they told us that they will be able to come up to see his baptism.  I’m so excited to see them.  They are such amazing people.

This week we were also able to pass by and teach Guilliana and it didn’t start off very well… She told us that she is not willing to take away coffee or anything like that.  We were pretty bugged about it to be honest, but we started talking about obedience and how we need to keep God’s commandments because we love him.  We showed her the video, “The hope of God's Light,” and it was perfect for her… She learned what she had to do, and told us that she would leave behind coffee for a week.  So we are super excited for that.  I believe that we will be able to put a baptismal date on her next week, which will be awesome!!

This week passed by so fast, it was crazy… My time here in the offices is almost done, which is awesome, but sad at the same time… I loved General Conference this past week and learned  so many things.  I loved Elder Rasband's talk on fear.  As well, how they talked a lot about staying on the covenant path.  Study their words and all will be well.  Sorry for the boring email, just that type of week this week haha.

Love,

Elder Copeland

Some photos of our P-day

Week 62 - October 6, 2018

Dear Family,

Another week down, so weird they just go faster and faster.... It's honestly going by so fast, I can't even believe it... Today was kind of a weird P-Day.  We didn't really have a P-Day.  We basically just watched conference.  But wow!  It was so amazing.  Such a blessing to know that we have a prophet to guide us today.  So many amazing talks.  I hope you can all study them and APPLY them.

But first off, we had some good things happen.  We had a family night with Sofia and a couple of the members in the house of Sofia.  We finally got to meet and teach her sister, Cynthia.  She is 19 years old and is kind of like Sofia.  She has had a pretty hard life.  So we were able to talk about the importance of families, and it was super spiritual!!  She was interested, as well.  We are hoping that she will be able to progress as well!!  So amazing!

We had Mission Council this Tuesday.  As always, it was amazing.  We got to learn a lot from President and Hermana Murphy, especially about the importance of leadership as well as the importance of following up with people.  The training of Hermana Murphy always stands out to me, about as leaders we need to be the ones guiding the mission as well as be good followers.  The best leaders in the world are, also, the best followers.  If we know how to follow the right people such as, Christ, the Prophet, Mission Presidents, parents, etc., we will become better leaders in our lives.  Super interesting point as well as something super important.

Our investigators this week were kind of hard to get a hold of, but we were able to pass by and catch up with them and see how they are doing.  Amazingly, they are all doing great and progressing super well.  They are learning a lot and progressing towards baptism.  We invited both Jhonny and Aldair to leave coffee behind so that they will be able to be baptized.  They accepted and have both told us that thanks to prayer and scripture reading, they now don't feel the need to drink coffee.  Hahah such a miracle and amazing testimony builder.

I know this week is General Conference, but here is a quote from Elder Holland in some talk that he gave a while ago... " I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road.  A mathematical sum incorrectly worked can be put right; but only by going back till you find the error and then working from that point.  It will never be corrected by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot develop into good, worlds without end.  Time does not heal it."  Such an amazing thought, I hope that we can all remember that there is always a way back.  Love this quote so much.

Love you all so much, thanks for everything.  Elder Copeland

Week 61 - September 29, 2018

Hello, Family,

Well this week was a lot faster and better than the past week… Hahaha we actually got to sleep on a normal sleeping schedule.  Elder Mayberry and I are getting along great and getting the hang of things now as companions! This week had some great experiences in our sector and just being able to study the scriptures.

First off, this Sunday we had Stake Conference and it was amazing.  One of the Seventy came, Elder Guardia from Venezuela!  Wow! He was unbelievable!  He got everyone super excited and gave an amazing talk about missionary work, as well as President and Hermana Murphy.  They did an amazing job on their talks.  We were a little sad to see that Giulliana didn’t come.  I’ll explain why later… But we were able to see Aldair, Jhonny, Miguel, and all my converts there, especially because Sofia brought her sister Cynthia!!  We have been trying to teach Cynthia for a very long time but she is either always working or hasn’t been very interested… BUT she came this week and loved it.  The closing hymn made her cry.  So we are excited to be able to start teaching her again!!  Such a miracle!  We were, also, able to present Aldair and Jhonny to president.  Aldair mentioned that he has desires to serve a mission!!  Such an amazing day!!

This Tuesday we had Zone Conference, as well, and we focused a lot on Book of Mormon and the power that it has.  More importantly, we focused on doing the small and simple things like it says in Alma 37:41 “…por motive de que se efectuaron estos Milagros por medios pequeños, se les manifestaron obras marvillosas.”  Super to understand and put in practice the small things into our lives, because they will créate everyday miracles.  One of those small things that we can do is read the Book of Mormon, so it tied in perfect to Zone Conference!

As well, this week we were able to pass by some of our investigators.  With Aldair, we were able to talk about the commandments and the importance of living them.  He told us that it shouldn’t be too big of a problem for him to live the Word of Wisdom, but he is a little scared for his baptism.  He asked us to keep him in his prayers and help him remember to read the scriptures so that he can be baptized on the 13^th of October!  As well, we passed by Jhonny and wow he is doing great!  He has been reading every night with his daughter  on the phone.  In his prayer, he asked God to bless him so that he could be baptized.  So amazing!

This Thursday, I had interchanges with Elder Soto, my best friend.  We had so much  fun.  While we were contacting people's houses, we decided to ask them if we could sing them a hymn.  Some of them told us yes and we just starting singing to them at their door haha so fun!  As well, we stopped by Guilliana, and she was so sad.  She has been struggling super bad in her job, in her family life, and basically every aspect of her life.  And wow we taught one of the best lessons that I have ever seen to her.  We taught about the importance of the gospel and that the gospel is supposed to bring us happiness IF we truly live it, IF!  But she just told us how grateful she was after that.  She could be reminded of the importance of our message.  Super cool experience!!

That was basically it this week.  Super good week.  It's always good to hear that BYU is winning again.  Love how every sports team I love is killing it while Im here in Ecuador!!!  SO COOL!!  Lets go Red Sox, BYU, Jazz, and Eagles!!  Haha  But I invite you guys to look for something to do this week so that you can bless other's lives with the Gospel.  Look for those who are not members of the church and try and bless their life in some ways.  Or set a goal to try and give away one Book of Mormon every single month! There are people that need it, and you guys need to be the ones to help them!!

As well, some of my favorite members, Humberto and Katiusca, are getting sealed in the temple this week, which is one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard. They invited me to come, but obviously I cant because the temple is in Guayaquil, which is about eight hours away.  But, wow!  I am so beyond excited  for them! 

Love, Elder Copeland

Fotos

the world smallest banana

Week 60 - September 22, 2018

Hello, family. 

I wasn't really able to inform you guys about what happened with changes this last week, but Elder Myers went home and Elder Mayberry came in and now is my companion here in Iñaquito!!  The cool thing is, is he was in my District in the coast for 2 months.  It's so weird to think that we are companions now.  I never thought that we would have ever been companions, but he is super cool and I'm super excited for this change that we have together.  He is from Saint David, Arizona.  If you don't know where that is, nobody does haha.  He started one change after me, so we have about the same amount of time in the mission.

(Elder Copeland's mother and sister, Lauren, were able to attend Elder Myers' at his homecoming in Layton, Utah.)

This week has honestly been super, super long.  I've been training Elder Mayberry as the financial secretary, so basically I'm just helping him understand what he should do in the offices.  This week we had to drop off the Elders and Hermanas in the airport and it was awful.  All of the Elders kept me up all night, and we left for the airport after that at 2 in the morning.  Turns out that one of the sisters had an earlier flight, so she didn't make it that night.  After that, I had to say bye to Elder Myers and Elder Cave:(... So after that we headed back over to the house and began to sleep and one of the Hermanas called me an hour later and told us that she needed a ride to the airport and nobody would take her.  So, I had to head back over to the airport with an hour of sleep and drop off more missionaries.  After, we went back and worked and at midnight we had to head back to  the airport and drop off another missionary.  Haha I got to know the airport super well this week haha.  It was a super long week with all of the things happening with the guys going home and the rest of them coming in... 

But we were also able to have some great spiritual moments this week.  We had a family night with President Murphy.  We brought over Giulliana (Juilliana) and taught her about the Word of Wisdom and the importance of it.  She has had a really hard time accepting it, so we were hoping President Murphy would be able to us out!  WE shared the talk from President Monson about the Word of Wisdom and how it blessed the soldier with more strength.  We asked her to live the Word of Wisdom for a whole month and she will know that it is a commandment of God.  She promised us that she would live the commandment and pray to God if she should be baptized.  She shared some good experiences about how during her scripture studies she has been noticing that all she has been thinking about is baptism.  It was super nice to know that she is thinking about it a lot.  I know that she will be baptized one day, she is honestly so prepared.  One of the biggest testimony builders that I have had in the mission is being able to see her progress. 

As well this week, we were able to stop by and teach Jhonny Pico.  About three weeks ago, some member called us over in the street while we were street contacting and told us that she wanted us to teach her dad.  So we went and presented ourselves and have been teaching him the past couple weeks.  He now has a baptismal date and is progressing super well.  We went and taught him with Esteban and taught him about baptism.  He is super excited and we have been receiving a bunch of help from the ward. So we are super excited for him and his baptism.  Such a miracle!

Not much more than that happened this week..  It was super long and hard, to be honest.  But we are excited and are going to try and continue to work hard, and we know that the Lord will bless us.  Thank you all for everything.  Love you all so much.  Elder Copeland

Fotos

Just some random fotos throughout the week

Week 59 - September 15, 2018

Dear Family,

Well, I don't even know where to start this.  Honestly, so many things have happened.  Without doubt, one of the craziest weeks of the mission so far . . .

Let's start with the bad news first.  This week while we were in the Offices, President came in on a Tuesday, which was super weird, because he never does.  He was talking to Elder Myers for a little bit and than called the rest of us in.  We all thought that we were going to talk about transfer week, but President informed us that Elder Myers has to go home…Honestly, I don’t think that I’d ever been so sad in my life.  It turns out that when Elder Myers went to the hospital the other week, it was his third incident with peanuts--all of them resulted in him going to the hospital.  And this time the doctor told us that if we would have waited five more minutes, he probably would have died… So, President and the doctors decided that it is far too dangerous for him to stay here… But it’s still super hard to here.  I've know Elder Myers since day one and he is one of the best missionaries that I know.  The mission is going to miss him big time…It’s been super hard for me to understand it, but you have to trust in the Lord.

This makes things super interesting here in the offices for us. Elder Myers was just about to train someone here in the offices as the Visa Secretary, but now President asked Elder Myers to train Elder Morris for these last five days of the change, which is so crazy because it always takes a long time to understand the tasks that you have to do in the offices.  Poor guy… So this week I was not companions with Elder Myers…I was with Elder Molina (Honduras) in a different sector, which was super awesome because I was super excited to go with him.  But now it gets even weirder. For changes, I’m going to go back to Iñaquito and train somebody in the offices for the next change.  So, instead of having six months here in the offices, I will only have four and a half.  Haha honestly super crazy!  I don’t even know how to explain what has been happening here in the mission haha. But I’m super excited to be able to go back to Iñaquito and serve the people there again.

Let's go to the good news now!  This week we had the baptism of Mariana!!!  I’m so happy that Elder Myers was able to finish with a baptism, but even more happy for her. She is honestly so amazing.  Every time that we talk to her about her baptism and the temple, she honestly gets so happy.  I want everyone to see what she does when we talk about it, it's so funny.  But we were able to have the baptism and it was a moment to remember.  I will never forget it.  We were able to have a lot of people attend the baptism, which is always something super special.  President and Hna Murphy came, as well as our other investigator, Guilliana!!  Ahhh I’m so happy here.

For more good news, like I explained more, I was able to be companions with Elder Molina this week,and honestly he is so awesome.  I have always wanted to be companions with him.  It’s kind of sad that we only had one week together, but it was an awesome week.  We got some work done here in La Luz.  One cool fact about Elder Molina is that he was ranked the 3^rd best Clash Royale player in the world.  He made money off of it, so freaking cool haha.  But we are hoping that we will be companions again in the future!!

This was hands down one of the most interesting weeks of my life, to be honest.  But it was something that you can learn off of.  I’ve continued reading in Helaman this week and honestly, it is so good.  There is so much information that is inside of it.  I hope some of you were able to read some parts of it and get something out of it.  I was talking to our ward mission leader who just got back from his mission and he was telling me about how he has already been having a hard time reading in his scriptures.  I hope we can always remember the power that one verse has in the Book of Mormon.  It is so important that we can put down social media, music, or Netflix for Christ.  If it’s too hard for you, I’m doing it for 2 years.  Love, Elder Copeland

The best people on the planet

Week 58 - September 8, 2018

Sup?!

To be honest this week was one of the fastest weeks of the mission.  Not too much happened, but honestly it felt like just yesterday.  I can’t believe how fast time is going here--it is beyond crazy.  It's great to hear that BYU won.  That’s always a great way to start off the week.  As well, to hear that my grandparents are being moved to the Frankfurt, Germany Mission with Dax is so awesome!  So excited for them!

This week started off super crazy though hahaha.  Turns out that Elder Myers is super allergic to peanuts and one of our mamits gave us peanuts without saying anything to us. Elder Myers just looked at me telling me that it was bad news.  We got out of the house as fast as possible and got to the house so he could take his Eppy Pen and rushed to the hospital as fast as possible.  Wow!  He honestly almost didn’t make it there, but we got him there and he made it out okay.  We were there basically the whole day, but wow what an adventure.  Super grateful that Elder Myers made it out okay.

As well, this week we had Mission Council in the house of President.  It’s always super fun to be able to see all of my buddies in the mission, as well.  It’s kind of sad because so many of them are leaving… But we had a great Council.  We talked about the importance of how in the Bible they are always going to mountain tops to communicate with God, and how now days we are blessed with the temples.  But more importantly, how we need to raise ourselves up and be better.  So, we went up to a spot in our mission super high up so that we would be able to remember our purpose as missionaries.  I loved it.  I thought that it was something that the mission needed.  

After Council, we had some of the Elders stay in our house, including Elder Harris.  He and I went out after and went contacting together.  It was so cool because the last time that I went out contacting with him was in the MTC.  Crazy to see how much we have changed.  Love that guy.

As well, this week I had interchanges with Elder Soto, our Zone Leader.  He is from Peru and is 25 haha.  But honestly, he is one of my best friends in the mission.  It is always super fun being able to be with him.  We had a lesson with some girl and it was awesome. We taught her about the Gospel of Christ and it was going great, then out of the middle of no where she just told us that she loved our message but that she likes women and that she doesn’t want to repent for it. So that was super weird haha, but it’s something that has been super interesting in the mission.  With some people there is just nothing you can do to change their minds. It’s super hard and sad, but what can you do haha.

That was basically our week.  We were able to finish up the rest of the lessons with Mariana before her baptismal interview and honestly she is so cool.  She understands everything so well.  It’s nice when we have members that help us out a ton.  So we're hoping to finish this transfer well. It’s super weird to think that I only have like 9 days left in the Iñaquito Ward.  I’m going to miss it so much.  I’ve been able to meet some of the best people that I know here, but I’m also super excited for next change in La Luz with Elder Molina.  He’s from Hondorus and is the coolest guy ever. Thank you all so much, even thought half of you didn’t get to this point, I still love you.  Love, Elder Copeland

Fotos,

Quito is so beautiful, some of the Volcanos that we can see every day

Elder Harris and I (Forever Bebe)

Our group at missionary council

Week 57 - September 1, 2018

Hello, family, 

It's me, Elder Copeland... What a marvelous, spectacular, fun, great, awesome, wonderful week!  We were able to see some more miracles here in Iñaquito!  I'm back on track writing you guys on time now haha.

We ended last week with the baptism of Deyamaris, as well as her little nephew, Samuel.  It was such an amazing experience.  

She was such a miracle that we were able to find here in this sector.  We saw God bless her in so many ways.  It was super cool to be able to see the difference in her throughout the time that we taught her.  She is from Venezuela and a lot of them have a lot of problems and are struggling with the situation that is happening in their country. But now, you can tell how much God can bless us.  It doesn't matter where we are from or our situation, we can always find happiness from the gospel.  One of the best experiences that I have had in the mission.

This week, as well, while we were at church, we were talking to one of our investigators, Mariana, and she told us that she basically received an answer and is ready to be baptized.  We went and talked to the bishop with her and we got all things figured out and were able to put a baptismal date on her for the 15th of September.  My last day here in this sector!  But, wow!  I honestly cannot believe it!  It was a complete miracle!  So, we went and taught her later that day, hoping that she didn't have a problem with the Word of Wisdom and for the first time in my mission, she had 0 problems.  It was such a testimony builder for me how Christ prepares his children to receive his blessings.

Another cool little experience that we had this week:  Elder Myers and I put as a goal to invite 150 people to come to church this week.  So, we went to a busy road and we were just contacting for hours and out of no where we hear "ELDERES" and we realized that only members know us by "Elders," so we went and talked to a girl and her sister and she told us that they were from Manabi (South Ecuador) and that they were visiting their dad.  We asked them if he was a member, and they said no and that they wanted us to present information to him.  We met him and he was super interested. It's weird because my entire time here in this sector I have contacted over 1000 people at least and only two of them have listened to us or accepted us.  And then, out of no where, the Lord puts people in our path that basically found us. So amazing!  I'm so grateful for the chance to see people's lives change.

This week I was reading in the beginning of Helaman and I think that it might be some of the most important information that we have in the Book of Mormon.  It talks about how the Church of Christ and how after all of the miracles that they saw in the wars FORGOT their Lord.  I feel like I see the same with a lot of people in the world.  After they receive the blessings they need such as a job, wife, family, a mission, education, and so much more, they almost always forget. They forget about the blessing and even more sad, they forget who gave them the blessing.  I challenge all of you to read the first five chapters of Helaman.  After that, look back and write down some of the biggest blessings that you have received in your life.  After, write down how you will always REMEMBER that the Lord gave you this blessing.  It is so beyond important that we do not forget the things that we have learned in this world.  The Book of Mormon is a testament of that. 

This P-day we went to a place called Mindo.  It is a little outside of Quito, and it is so beautiful.  It is surrounded by waterfalls.  You have to take a cable car at some point to cross a river.  It was one of the cooler P-days that I have had up until this point.  I'll send some pictures of it.   

I will, also, explain the pictures with the demon guys haha.  Right outside the office, there was a giant parade with all of the indigenous people and they just were going crazy.  So I decided to take some pictures hahaha!  

Thanks for everything, Love you all so much!

 

Also, I had to drop Elder Millett off at the airport, super weird. Going to miss that guy a lot.  Can't believe he's already gone.

Elder Copeland