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

Week 35 - March 26, 2018

Hellooooo, 8 Months today!  So crazy...

Monday.  Today after Pday, we went to go visit a less active and it turns out that some of her family members aren't members and she told us that she wants us to talk to them another day.  After, we walked up to Vivianna's house and just went to talk to her, and it was such a good lesson.  She is so awesome!  She is progressing so much.

Tuesday.  Today we started the day off at the District Meeting and it was pretty good. I'm starting to get a little more used to having to give them.  After, we had to stop by one of our investigator's house and drop her because she was just not progressing, so we had to tell her that we won't come back until she starts progressing.  It was sad.  It's always the worst having to drop investigators.  After, we received a reference from some members that live so far away.  So, we went to the house of them and their reference that they gave us lives even farther up.  Way farther up!  We took this random dirt road to get to her house in the middle of no where.  But we taught her and her sister and she is awesome.  They accepted the baptismal invitation.  It was so cool!  The members are some of my favorite people ever.

Wednesday.  Today, we started the day off having interviews with President Murphey.  They are always such a good experience to be able to talk to him.  He's such an amazing man, I'm so lucky that I'm able to have him as my president. He has taught me so much.  After the interview, many of our appointments fell through and we ended up contacting for a good amount of time with have very little success.  But to finish the day, we were able to invite some members to visit with Vivianna and Elvis and we were able to talk about Lehi's dream with them.  They loved it and it was such a good lesson.  It helped them understand our purpose a little bit better.

Thursday.  Today we had to go look for a different apartment.  President told us that he's going to bring two more missionaries here in Cayamabe.  So he told us to put some time into finding a new apartment for them.  We spent a lot of the day contacting but had some pretty good success. We were able to find some futures.  We finished the day teaching Blanca and Edgar.  We were teaching them and it was going so well.  The Spirit was so strong and then we heard a knock on the door.  The mom of Edgar walked in and started yelling and asking us why we were here and that we can't be there.  She, also, included "they don't know anything" hahaha.  It was so awful!  It took away the Spirit so fast.  After she left, we talked to them about how there is always an opposition.  Edgar was tearing up because he was so confused and embarrassed. They are so awesome.  I'm hoping that they can find a way to keep listening to us and be baptized.

Friday.  Today we had a division with the Zone Leaders Elder Castagno (Rexburg, Idaho) and Elder Haslam (Montana).  They are honestly the best!  They are so fun to be with.  We walked in the house and they were playing a mini piano and dancing hahha.  But during the division, I went with Elder Haslam and we just went trying to find their investigators and nobody was there.  Soooo, we ended up just contacting.  But in the middle of the day, we got a call from the Relief Society to come and help them with a skit that they were doing.  So Elder Haslam and I went to be Joseph Smith and John Taylor haha.  It was so funny. Everybody was so stressed that it had to be perfect. After, we had a training to help the members invite their friends to come to church.

Saturday.  We stayed in Otavalo for a little bit longer to help with some service.  So we picked up garbage in the giant field. It was so gross.  We came back and went back to go teach Luz (the one that lives really far away).  It was such a good lesson.  We were able to talk about the Plan of Salvation with her.  We were also able to put a baptismal date on her.  We came back in the night time to teach Vivianna.  We finished all of the lessons with her, so we asked her if she felt like she was ready for her baptism on the 7th and she told us that she needs more time.  It was so frustrating because I know that she is ready to be baptized. So we talked to her and she decided only a couple more months.

Sunday.  Today we got up and went to church and Vivianna and Elvis came to church and they both left early.  I got pretty frustrated because nobody said a single word to them the entire time they were there.  It was so frustrating.  After, we went to go visit this one girl and she probably has the worst life I've ever seen.  She is 22 years old and has 3 kids, one of them being really sick.  She also lives with her boyfriend that is 38... She was telling us about some of the problems that she has in her life, and it is so awful.  I felt so bad for her.  We ended the lesson with her nephew saying the prayer, and his prayer was 8 minutes long haha.  In his prayer, he asked God if he can help his grandma find the person that killed her bird so that he can have justice from God haha.  He, also, said that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and he has yet to read a page from the Book haha.  But I'm hoping that the gospel can bless her life.  After, we were walking to our next appointment and we were on this dark dirt road.  While we were walking, we heard a bunch of footsteps behind us and because it was dark it was hard to see what it was.  It got closer and it was about 15 wild horses that were chasing us. We then heard one of the guys that was riding one of the horses yelling, "Be careful!"  So Elder Ton and I just started running and made it out alive haha, but it was so scary.

Book of Mormon.  At the end of this week, we are going to be celebrating the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  It says in Alma 7:11:  "And he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people."  Always remember whenever you feel like you're the "only one," Christ came here so that you are not.  During this week, read and learn about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Love, Elder Copeland

Cangahua

Some pretty great graffiti!

Week 34 - March 19, 2018

Hello, family!

Monday.  Today after P day was the first time in the mission where nobody accepted us.  We had three appointments that all fell through and after that we just contacted and just got rejected and rejected again.  But yeah, what can you do?!

Tuesday.  Today we started the day of doing a Mornita.  As the District Leader, you are supposed to do one with every companionship that is in your District and you basically just see how they are doing and talk to them about their plans and goals.  We had one with Elder Beckstead (Arizona) and Elder Chable (Mexico).  It was awesome to be able to talk to them about some things.  After, we had a District Council and we talked about what we can do better to find some more investigators.  I'm getting more used to giving the Council now.  After, I did Divisions with Elder Chable.  He came with me to Cayambe and we had a pretty solid day.  We started the day off contacting and were able to find one guy.  After, we had a lesson with Vivianna and her partner.  They came over to the chapel and talked with us and the Branch President.  It was such a good lesson.  Vivianna was telling us that she doesn't want to live with him for right now, but she wants to help him by being a good friend and being a good mom.  Elvis (the partner) wants to be back with her so bad, but she just doesn't want to.  It was kind of sad.  But he wants so bad to change.  At the end, we asked him to say a prayer and it was his first one ever.  He just started balling-- the Spirit was so strong.  After, we went up to Fam Cabezes and talked to them about their desires from listening to us and they just weren't ready.  Adamari told us that she thinks that the Catholic Church is true, and honestly, it sucked so bad.  It's hard to hear that they think another church is true especially if you know they could have done more to know. But you just got to know that you did your part and that there's nothing else you could do...

Wednesday.  Today we had another lesson with the missionary from the other church.  The last time that we went, he kind of destroyed us.  We didn't know what to say, but this time we were prepared.  He just did not want to accept the Book of Mormon.  He just thinks that the Bible is all and that we don't need more words of God.  We just kept on talking about how we need the Book of Mormon, and we didn't know how to respond... Haha it was so awesome.  After, we went to a Branch Council and we had to force the Branch to start helping us a little more in the mission work. It was perfect.  We had about an hour and half conversation about what we are going to do now.  We set up some Family Nights with some members and also a couple activities in the next couple weeks.  To end the day, we went to the house of Mishell and talked to her about missionary work and how she can be a missionary here, and she told us that she is thinking about serving a mission.  So yeah, that was pretty cool haha.

Thursday.  Today we did another Division and this time Elder Reatagui (Peru) came here to Cayambe with me.  We had a pretty solid day.  We found this guy and he was telling us that he wants to hear about the Book of Mormon, but he still loves being with women and drinking coffee haha.  It was so weird. After, we were able to stop by a family that we haven't visited in a while.  They told us that they are moving to Canada.  She went off about how horrible Ecuador is and that how its on the same path as Venezuela.  Haha  I don't think it's that bad, but she told us that she wants to try and get baptized before she leaves for Canada.  After, we went up to a family that we have been teaching little by little, and we had a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation.  They were really interested, so we invited them to be baptized and they accepted the date.  They told us that they are a little scared because everyone in their family is Catholic, but we shared some good scriptures to help them feel a little better about being baptized.  It was awesome that we were able to put some more people on with a date.

Friday.  Wow this day haha.  Such a wild day.  We started the day going off going to a house of a pastor.  To explain, this guy is very old and pretty weird haha.  He doesn't live with anyone, but he says that he has a boyfriend (God) haha. We got to his house and he told us that he is trying to become a prophet, so he told us that what he does sometimes, he goes to a river and bathes himself haha.  He told us that last week he was bathing himself in the river and God's face appeared in front of him and was talking to him. After, he said that the devil came to tempt him so what he had to do is run out of the river and grab the Bible to be protected hahaha.  After, he was telling us that he can read dreams and when I heard that, I to took advantage of this situation.  So I asked if he could help me and he says of course... So I had to make up in my head some dreams.  The first one I made up was that I was with my girlfriend in a park and we were playing, and he stopped me and asked me if their was flowers, and I said yes.  He told me that it means that she loves me.  After, I told him that we went onto a boat on the lake. He told me that the lake means that she was crying for me and the reasons we were on a boat is because she wants to travel to me haha.  After I said, "Then why did she break up with me after?"  He said, "It's because she actually wants you more than ever right now." HAHA.  After, I told him that something really strange happened at the end of the dream... That after she broke up with me, 2000 babies started falling from the sky hahaha.  He told me it's because God was sending my girlfriend and I angels to get us back together.  AHAH This dude is so weird.  But don't worry, these dreams are not real.  The next dream I told him was that I was Superman in a giant city saving people, but I told him that I was only saving women and children.  He stopped me again and said what color of skin did the women have.  I responded and said, "50% white, 25% brown, 25% black." He said, "Oh no, the black and brown women were trying to take away your power, they are demons" HAHAHA  I asked him, "What about the White?"  He replied, "Oh yeah, those are angels."  I asked him after,  "Wait.  Why was I like Superman in this dream?"  He told me that its because "You have a lot of power in God and that you will become a prophet." Haha  Elder Ton and I just started laughing, but he was dead serious.  After, I told him at the end of the dream, it turned into a nightmare because 1000 pigs, cows, and chickens came and started eating me.  He was shocked and said, "Those chickens were sent from God (angles) and the cows and pigs were (devils) trying to stop me from becoming a prophet." Haha  After all of this, we had a great lesson with him about the Book of Mormon haha.   After the lesson, we were walking to another appointment.  This dude was walking and selling ice Cream and asked us, "What do you offer?" and we told him that we're missionaries and a little about the Book of Mormon.  He then told us that his apartment was really close and he wanted us to come.  All of a sudden, I got a really bad feeling about it.  I asked him if we we're going to share something about God... and he said that we really wouldn't be talking too much... We asked him what we were going to talk about and he said to us, "Well I'm GAY" HAHAHAHHA What the heck?!   You can just put the things together and see that he didn't actually want to listen to a message from us.  So Elder Ton and I honestly just ran away.  It was so scary.  We found out later this day that this guy is an awful person, but I don't need to write the things that he does haha.  After this experience we went to the chapel to have a lesson with Elvis, the boyfriend of Vivianna and we talked to him about the restoration of the gospel and he told us that he was happy to know that there is a prophet that is living.  He told us that he was so grateful to be able to hear that he can change his life and become a better person. We invited him to be baptized and he was kind of scared, but we told him how we were here to help him and that really this is going to be the decision to change his life.  So he accepted!  It was such a solid lesson.  That was basically the end of the crazy day hahaha.

Saturday.  Honestly, today nothing special happened.  We found one girl in the morning that couldn't really understand my Spanish haha, but she wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon, so that's good.  Sometimes it's still a little bit frustrating because I feel like I have improved so much in Spanish and some people just can't understand me haha, but it just takes time.  After we went from door to door and looked for everyone so that we could invite them to an activity that we had in the Branch.  They watched "Coco" and talked about family history, but we were not able to watch the movie.  It was kind of frustrating because we had investigators that I wanted to sit by and talk to.  But to end this day, we were walking to our house and some dude, mad at the world, was standing on his balcony and decided that it would be a good idea to throw a bag of about 10 potatoes at me.  It drilled me directly in the chest.  It hurt so bad haha. But what can you do...

Sunday. Today also was not really anything special. Vivianna and Elvis came to church for the first hour and then they just left out of no where with out saying anything and she hasn't answered her phone so I'm a little scared for that. After we went to a lesson with Danny and Veronica and we read the chapter of Enos and after Danny asked about 100 questions for us. He is so excited for general conference so that he can listen to a prophet and apostales. After we just went to Fam Trujillo and talked to them and they're still doing awesome. But other than that that was pretty much our day.

Monday. Today we went to the waterfalls of Carihaco.  It was straight jungle.  It was so beautiful.

Book of Mormon.  I've been reading all of the wars in Alma, and I read the part about how Helaman is preparing the 2000 stripling warriors to battle.  In chapter 53:20-21, it is describing what kind of young men these 2000 warriors were. It says, "20:  And they were all YOUNG MEN, and they were exceedingly VALIANT for COURAGE, and also for STRENGTH and ACTIVITY; but behold, this was not all- -they were men who were TRUE at ALL TIMES in WHATSOEVER thing they were entrusted.  21:  Yea, they were men of TRUTH and SOBERNESS, for they had been TAUGHT to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him."  Later in chapter 56:47, it says, "Yea, they had been TAUGHT by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them."  And again in chapter 57:26 "Because of their exceeding faith in that which they have been TAUGHT to believe."  These verses show me that the real reason that the Stripling Warriors were so amazing is because they had been taught by their Parents.  It shows me the importance of really teaching your kids to keep the commandments of God.  I'm so blessed to have the best parents in the world to teach me to believe and be faithful.

Photos of the waterfalls today.

Love, 

Elder Copeland

Week 33 - March 12, 2018

Family! 

Hope all is going well at home.  Wanted to start with a shout out to my Mom.  Love you Mom!

Monday.  Today after going to the lake, we went and visited a family that was going to get baptized and now we have to push pack the date.  The little kids got put into a soccer league that plays on Sunday until the end of April, which was kind of frustrating.  But after them, we went looking for everybody and nobody was there.  They all disappeared or something--it was really weird.  So we did some contacting at night, running into Catholics that didn't want to listen to us haha.

Tuesday.  Today was probably one of the longest days of the mission so far haha.  We started off with doing the District Council, and it was awesome.  I'm getting more used to giving the Council now, which I'm starting to love to give. After, had one of the hardest days.  We had a great day set up and everything fell through.  We didn't have an appointment with anyone until 8... We contacted and looked for some other investigators for the other 8 hours haha.  My feet were dying.  I just wanted to sit down, but nobody really accepted us.  We've been doing a new thing that for us to be able to count a new investigator, they have to accept the baptismal invitation.  It's been really hard being able for people to accept the baptismal invitation.  So, it's been really hard to find some people with good potential and that actually accept the baptismal question in the first time at their door. But at 8, we finally got to our first appointment and it was with Fam Cabezes.  We came to their house just to come and answered all of their questions.  It was a solid lesson.  It helped them feel better for their baptism.

Wednesday.  Today we had a Zone Conference in Otavalo that was unreal.  We talked a lot about the story of the Sons of Mosiah.  It's such a good story, and have I been able to go back and look at it so many times and it has helped me so much in the mission.  Sister Murphy taught us so much about how and what they did to be better missionaries.  I was, also, able to some of my buddies, Elder Ayuso, Elder Millett, Elder Johnson, and Elder Bogren.  It was so awesome to see all of them.  The only Companion that was not there was Elder Harris.  I was pretty sad about that.  

 All of Elder Copeland's companions--except Elder Harris, who he was sad not to see.

Afterwards, we got back to our sector and went and taught a family about Alma 32 and how they can really know if the message that we are teaching them is actually real.  They loved it!  They were asking us why they didn't know about our church before and a bunch of stuff like that.  So we invited them to be baptized and they accepted!!  I'm so excited for them and hoping and praying that they continue to progress.

Thursday.  Today I was able to do a division with Elder Campbell.  He's from Idaho and he's such a good guy.  He's got about 1 year and a half in the mission, but this was my first Division as a District Leader, so I was pretty nervous, to be honest.  We started off the day awesome.  We went contacting for a little bit and found this one guy and we asked him if he's ever heard of the Book of Mormon.  He told us that he has one... We asked him how and he told us that he found it in a trash can about 5 years ago and he has no idea what it really is but he loves to read it and thinks that it's such an awesome story.  So he told us that we need to come back another day because he didn't have time at the moment.  But I think that it's such a cool story that we were able to find this guy that has been waiting for 5 years to know the importance of this Book.  I'm so excited to go back.  After, we were able to visit one of our investigators that is 15 years old and has a kid that's a 1.5 years old.  We talked to her and she told us that she wants to get baptized, so we talked about ideas of what she can do to get baptized.  She's so awesome.  I hope that she can actually find a way to get baptized.  After, we talked to Juan and he told us that he also wants to get baptized, but he has a problem because he's not married.  So we spent a lot of time making a plan for him to get married.  The people here are honestly so amazing.  I hope that we will be able to find a way for them to get married. 

Friday.  Today was a good day.  We didn't have really anything planned for the afternoon, so we went contacting and found some awesome people.  We found this guy that his parent used to beat him.  We presented the Book of Mormon and he was so excited to know more about the Book of Mormon and was really excited to read it.  After, we went to the house of one of our investigators and it turns out that her aunt died and she was so sad.  So we talked a lot about the Plan of Salvation with them to help them feel a little better.  After, we had a lesson with Vivianna, and she decided that she needed to move her baptism date back because she did not feel ready for the 24th.  We were able to talk to her more about what she needs to do to feel more prepared for the 7th of April.

Saturday.  Today we started the day off going up to Otavalo so that I could do my first baptismal interview as a District Leader.  I was so terrified.  I didn't know if my Spanish was going to be good enough, but the Lord blessed me so much and it was such a good testimony builder.  The Lord blesses you when you need it.  After the interview, we went to the house of our mommita.  I always tell her that her hamburgers are the best when it's just more rice and chicken, and she always laughs at the joke.  But we got there and she actually made us hamburgers, and they were actually pretty good. They're like one of my favorite families on the planet.  After, we had this lesson with this guy.  He's a Christian, but he's studying about Atheism.  So we talked to him and gave him a Book of Mormon and he read some.  Then he went off on us... We watched some Anti-Mormon stuff about Joseph Smith and Temples and he just went off on us.  Hahahah he got mad at us because on the card we have a picture of Jesus Christ HAHA.  It was such a joke!  I started just laughing at him and he got mad saying that he's better than us and that he should be on a mission instead of us.  But yeah that was fun HAHA! After, we went by some of our investigators and they didn't have any time for us, so we just contacted.  At night, it's almost impossible to contact and have someone talk to us. 

Sunday.  Today, we were able to have Vivianna come to church and she brought her old boyfriend that she doesn't live with anymore.  I guess something bad happened with them, but she told us that he really needs help and she just wants to help him.  She's so awesome.  After church, we went to lunch and I had to eat the hooves of a COW.  Oh my gosh!  It was so awful!  I could see the hairs on the meat that I was eating!  Then we had to stop by Family Cabezes and see why they didn't come and it was because they were sleeping.  I got so frustrated with them because their baptisimal date fell through because they were sleeping.  But yeah, welcome to the mission haha!  But after them, we had a lot of good things happen.  We talked to Danny and Veronica and they told us that they are planning on getting married so that can be baptized.  After, we taught her neighbor and she accepted the baptismal invitation.  But a cool thing that happened todayl  I had this feeling to go and visit this old investigator that stopped listening to the missionaries.  We stopped by and talked to them and they were so happy to see us and they told us that they need us to come back.  Not only that, but they're a family of 9!!  It was so awesome!  I'm so excited to go back and talk to them more.

Monday.  Today we just went to a really old tree.  We had to hike up to it and yeah it's old and cool.

Book of Mormon. This week i was able to keep reading in Alma and I was reading Alma 36.  It's about Alma telling his story of conversion and how he was still able to repent of his sins.  He was an awful person, but he changed his life.  I looked at it how even his friends and family were able to forgive him.  That's even a bigger part of repentance is to be able to forgive others.  So my invitation with everyone is to forgive someone for something that they have done wrong in the past.  It may change their life... Love you all!

Love, Elder Copeland

Cayambe