Week 65 - October 27, 2018

Dear Family,

Well my time here in the offices came to an end... I can't even believe it.  It went by so fast.  It was one of the best learning experiences and five months that I have had in my life.  I was able to learn so much from being here in the offices.  But to be honest, I'm excited to get back in the field and find more children of God.

This week, honestly, went by so fast so I'll try and see if I remember anything... First off, we had a lesson with Ximena Ponce, one of our investigators with a baptismal date!!  We went and taught her the Plan of Salvation, and it went well.  She loved it and was able to show a little more progress which we are super excited for.  She is working hard.  We are hoping that she will continue to read the Book of Mormon everyday.  She is super awesome though.  She is so excited to go to church this week so that she can see all of her friends again.

As well, we were able to pass by Sofia's house which ended up being great.  We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to accept the Prophet's invitation and finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year!  She accepted and is still doing awesome and staying on the covenant path.

But most importantly, this week we had the baptism of Jhonny Pico!!:) ,We were able to see some little miracles with Jhonny this past week. ,Last night, Friday, we got a call from Jhonny's daughter. ,She lives in the Coast about 6 hours away from Quito, maybe more.  And she told us that she wanted to surprise her dad and come up to his baptism but that she needed a place to stay.  We were calling everybody to see where they could stay, and basically the end of the night, we walked upstairs to our neighbors and they said yes!!  Such a miracle, they were able to witness the baptism of their father/grandpa!  Honestly, a big testimony builder for me that a member of the Church would take in some strangers into her house so that they could be a part of his baptism!:)  The baptism went super well though, but wow it was stressful... We got a call at 9 in the morning saying that the font was barley working... So we booked it over there to try and see what the problem was and we couldn't figure it out... So basically we just grabbed every bucket in the chapel and went to a little water storage and started filling up the font as much as we could... Haha such a pain.. But it was all worth it.  I think one of the most memorable moments of my life is when his daughter and her family walked in and surprised him... He had no idea they were going to travel up to see him be baptized.  And when they walked in he just started crying and gave them the biggest hug ever.  Honestly, such an amazing experience.  I am so happy for him. Thanks for all of your prayers back home!:)  He was super prepared for his baptism and everything went great!!

As well, this week I read a lot in the Book of Mormon, basically the last three books.... But I find it interesting to see the difference between the Jaredites and the Nephites.  In the book of Ether, we learn about the Jaredites and their time here in the Americas.  In the rest of the Book of Mormon, we learn about the Nephites and their time here in the Americas.  Basically in the time of the Jaredites, they were a wicked people most of the time.

They were so wicked that every one of them was taken off the earth.  And we see the Nephites that they prospered in the land for a very long time. They were a little more righteous people.  They kept the commandments of God and when they didn't keep the commandments, they would start keeping them two is that the Nephites had the Brass Plates, or in other words they had the Scriptures.  The Jaredites did have a little scripture but not too much.  They had more Prophets that were teaching them.  But I believe that the Nephites were able to teach, live, hear, and apply the Gospel because they had more scriptures. Today, we have even more than the Brass Plates. We have the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, living Prophets... We are so blessed today.  I know that like the Nephites, if we live, teach, hear, and apply the teachings of these scriptures, we as well will prosper in the land!:)

Also, I just got changes.  I'm going back up to Otavalo, in Imabaya.  I'm going to be the Zone Leader with Elder Fernandez!

Fotos

Saying Bye to Elder Soto

Elder Copeland

Week 64 - October 20, 2018

This week is already over wow... Haha! 

It went by so fast, I can't even believe it... But this was quite an interesting week...

Let's start with the weird stuff.  After church on Sunday, we got a call from Hna. Murphy, and she told us that she needed us to go to the hospital with her... There was an Elder that got super sick and had to get put in the emergency room.  So we went with Hna. Murphy and got to meet Elder Fenton.  It turns out that his companion stayed in his sector, so we had to be his companion for the day.  So, we basically just sat in the hospital for 7 hours haha.  At night time, we got another Elder to replace him so we got to go sleep, then head back to the hospital for another 7 hours... Long story short, after three days in the hospital, Elder Fenton had to go back home, so we had to, also, drop him off in the airport.  It was super sad to see because he didn't get to see all of the miracles of the mission.  He only had one month.  But I hope he gets felling better, he's a super good guy!

As well, we got to go and teach Jhonny this week and wow every week he gets cooler and cooler.  Such an amazing guy.  He, also, had his baptismal interview and he passed which was super cool.  He should be getting baptized this next coming Saturday!!:)  We are super excited for him and are hoping that we can have a super good baptismal service this next coming week.  His kids told us that they are coming from the coast to see their dad be baptized!

We were, also, able to visit Ximena again and she is doing awesome.  She told us that she was able to read for a little bit and that she loved it.  We went with a member and they are basically the same person, so it worked out perfectly.  We taught her about the Restoration and she loved it so much. So, we invited her to read and ask God if it is true as well we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted!!:)  She will be baptized on the 24th of November!

As well, this week we passed by Guilliana, and honestly it was kind of frustrating... She just doesn't know what to do. She is super confused about the Word of Wisdom and doesn't believe that it is bad to drink coffee.  We told her like 100 times that she has to at least try and see that it is a commandment of God, and she just doesn't know...:/ Please pray for her so that she can live the Word of Wisdom and so that she can be baptized.  She is one of the most amazing people that I know.

Today we were able to participate in a devotional for missionaries that President Russell M Nelson did.  Sadly, it was in Peru, but were able to watch a live broadcast.  It was so amazing... One thing that I loved is that he explained that perfection is not living here on earth without mistakes, but is when we change from mortals, to immortals through the Atonement of Christ.  It was such an amazing chance to be able to listen to the prophet today/!!

This week I had a lot of time to read in the Book of Mormon because I spent a lot of time in the hospital haha...Mostly in 3rd Nephi and 4th Nephi... I think that I have already shared so much about 3rd Nephi, but it was a big blessing as well because I was able to learn a lot from it.  Something that stood out to me was in the Book of 4th Nephi... This chapter to me is a chapter super interesting because it is about 400 years of writings in one chapter... It describes how the people were in this time in verse 16:  "There could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God," which makes sense because they had just seen Christ with their own eyes and saw all of the miracles that he did.  As well, it explains that they were all keeping the commandments of God, so it doesn't surprise me that much, because they were all doing what they should do.  But something that I love in this chapter is that Christ left them his Church... Not only that, but it is the same church that we are in today.  It describes in verse 14 that Christ made his church with disciples and that when they died, Christ called more disciples... Kind of like what we saw six months ago when Russell M Nelson was called to be our Prophet... As well, it says in verse 17 that there was no manner of -ites, or in other words (Mormons, Catholic, etc.) but that they were one, "Children of Christ."  That is one of the things that Russell M Nelson was talking about this past week is that we aren't Mormons but we are children of God and that this is his Church... It explains how blessed they were for keeping the commandments of God as well as not having contention... But shortly after, the people began to do their own thing and started to deny the true Church of God.  It says in verse 27 that the people began to create their own churches that talked about Christ, but did not teach his Gospel... Slowly after that, the Church of Christ was basically destroyed... The reason why is because what it says later on in 38 and 39, because they did not teach their children to keep the commandments and do the things that make us happy.  But they did the opposite.. They taught them to hate each other and God... To me it is very shocking and sad how fast the people could lose the happiness that they had... Satan is real and can destroy us so easily.  We must REMEMBER to follow the words of the prophets, especially from the ones that we just heard a week ago.  It is super important that we can apply the new teachings of the Prophet and that we can have a household where the Spirit can dwell and that we can teach our children the love God has for us... I hope that every one of us can always remember so that we can have the happiness that the Nephites did have so that our children as well can have the same happiness.  Love you all so much.

Elder Copeland

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