Happy late Thanksgiving! Not being home for Thanksgiving, honestly, was not fun: not fun at all. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and being away from my family and friends was tough. Other than that, it was a pretty solid week. We met and taught a bunch of new people. Our companionship is still doing pretty good. I'm definitely ready to get out of being in a trio in all honesty. I'll definitely be able to learn and become a better missionary faster. Transfers are only two weeks away!
Spanish is still tough, as usual. I'm getting better at speaking and teaching, especially saying a prayer or bearing my testimony, but I still have a long way to go. It really does feel like Mexico down here. The weather in San Jose is so nice! It gets a little cold, but nothing too crazy, one way or the other. I miss the Utah snow though! Being away from home has made me even more grateful for everything I've been given in my life, especially my amazing parents, family, and friends.
WEDNESDAY (11/22/23): Today was our P-day. After working out and doing my laundry, we drove up to the temple with Elder Mina Dominga and Elder Kirkland. The Oakland temple is incredible! It has a rooftop garden, which has an amazing view of San Francisco, Oakland, and the Bay. It's definitely one my favorite temples. It's a lot smaller in person, however. After our P-day ended, we had dinner with Sister Cortez. She has a son named Kevin who has been struggling spiritually. She opened up to us about her conversion and her experience she had with missionaries. Kevin is extremely shy, but we got him to open up a little. To end the night, we had English class with the Hermanas.
THURSDAY (11/23/23): Today was my first Thanksgiving Day out in the mission field. I had zero motivation to do missionary work today. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday and I missed everything I had back at home: football, family dinner, shopping, setting up and decorating the Christmas tree, etc. I tried my best not to think about it though. To start the day, we gathered as a district to have a testimony meeting. While contacting, we met two new people, Estrada and Bardales, and shared what we were all grateful for. After, we met up with Alfredo, Anderson, and their whole family. They invited us in, and we talked with them for a bit. We found out their mother sadly has cancer and is currently going through chemotherapy. We were able to give her a blessing which was pretty cool! We had Thanksgiving dinner with Hermana Burgess. She had prepared a whole dinner for us by herself. She's such an amazing lady, and I'm so grateful for her willingness to have had us over for dinner. We shared Alma 26:36 with her to end the night.
FRIDAY (11/24/23): We had exchanges with Elder Kirkland, one of the Tagalog-speaking elders, Elder Kirkland was so sick! We met some new people and did a lot of door-to-door contacting. We didn't do as much today as we were busy filling and updating our PMG app. To end the night, we had sports night and played some basketball.SATURDAY (11/25/23): We started the day by teaching Diego again. He's progressing really well! We taught him about the two Great Commandments, the importance of Repentance and what the Atonement was. After, we were able to attend the temple again! We went with recent converts, Isidro and his daughter, and some ward members: Alejo and Arturo. We did baptisms for the dead, which is my favorite part of the temple. While at the temple, we saw a lot of people taking pictures for their 15th birthday parties called a quinceañera, which is a huge celebration Latinos have for when a girl turns 15. The boys dress in fancy suits and the girls wear extravagant dresses. We all got a good laugh out of it because everyone does their pictures at the temple. Also, while we were leaving, we saw some ladies celebrating a wedding, or something like that, and were holding wine bottles in front of the temple haha!
After the temple, we had a lesson with Yon and his family. We taught them about prophets, the Book of Mormon and invited them to read 1 Nephi 8.
SUNDAY (11/26/23): Diego and his wife came to church today, which was awesome! Gerado and Nelson pulled up as well. We confirmed Angel today as well; it was a really good service! After church, we had a lesson with Angel and taught him about the priesthood as he prepares to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. We taught Alejo and his family the importance of scripture study and studying together as a family. We said hi to Luz Marina and then taught Anderson and Alfredo's family again. We taught them about the Fall of Adam and Eve, since they had many questions about it; we invited them to read 2 Nephi 25. We had a couple other lessons and then ended the night by doing AP exchanges with Elder Salazar. They have a full-on bar and bench in their apartment, which I'm extremely jealous about!
MONDAY (11/27/23): For those who don't know what AP's are, Assistants to the President. They're basically the best and most important missionaries in the mission field. In all honesty, I was definitely a little intimidated; but Elder Salazar is such an incredible missionary. We started the day by setting up our church's Christmas Creche (basically a fancy word for a Nativity Set).
After helping set up, we met with a recent convert named Mariaele. She had been struggling financially and had been afraid to talk to bishop due to her being prideful and not wanting help. She eventually did, as bishop would go knock on her door at least once a week. She eventually stopped ignoring him and opened up to us and him. She's such a nice lady and we had the opportunity to teach her again. We met a man named Adan after. He was leaving to attend a seminary trip for his local congregation in DC. He had a friend who had served a mission and attended BYU. We shared with him the First Vision, the importance of the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and what the restored gospel was. After, we taught some people on the street and even played soccer with some random kids. We ended the night by going to ARP with Gerado and Angel (a different Angel).TUESDAY (11/28/23): We had President Interviews the whole day. Since my companions are Zone Leaders, we had to go last. However, President ran out of time, so we had to reschedule for Friday. We ended up not doing much today since interviews took up so much time. We taught another lady named Esmeralda at her doorstop and tried talking to some people. We didn't have much success teaching and talking to people today as interviews took up a large chunk of time.
Love, Elder Copeland
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