Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great week! I'm doing pretty well! Watsonville is definitely a slower area, but I love it so much down here! The ward down here is small, but the members that attend are so awesome! I finished reading the Book of Mormon from front to cover, and it's so undeniably true! My Spanish is progressing slowly but surely. I definitely get overwhelmed on how long I'm going to be a missionary. I'm definitely having to take things day by day, little by little. I know it isn't true, but it really does feel like this is what I'll be doing for the rest of my life haha! We are still working with inactive members mostly and trying to get them back to church! Me and Elder Empey get along super well and work great together. Hopefully me and him get to stay in Watsonville together again for another transfer!
WEDNESDAY (12/27/23): For our P-day today, we went to the temple and did endowments. Watsonville is around two hours away from Oakland, so most of our day was spent driving. The Oakland Temple is so gorgeous! There are always visitors there either visiting the roof garden or going to the Visitor Center which is awesome! After the temple, we ended the day by playing basketball at the church and talking to our families.
THURSDAY (12/28/23): Today was a slow day. Due to the temple taking up so much time the day before, we had to quickly go shopping and get our haircuts. Me and the barber talked a while about my mission, the church, sports, etc. He said that one of his college professors had served a mission, so he knew a little bit about who and what we were! I kinda explained to him what a prophet was and how each missionary is assigned their mission call. After, we began to work on visiting some more inactive members but not a single person was home.
FRIDAY (12/29/23): We contacted a referral named Jessica Tolentino. She didn't have a lot time and seemed to have some pretty severe social anxiety. I quickly shared how the Atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to change and become newer and better persons. We left her with a Book of Mormon and invited her to Church. While leaving her house, we met a man named Ramiro. He had been previously taught by Elder Empey and his past companion. He said his family had tested positive for Covid and told us to stop by next week. After, we were able to finally contact an inactive member. Her name was Sister Franklin, and she was so incredibly nice. She is 83 and still has a strong testimony of the Church and of Jesus Christ; she just struggles with some health problems. We said a prayer with her, and she left us with some oatmeal cookies and bread. After, we had another lesson with Orlando and talked to him about how to use, "Come, Follow Me," read the Testimony of the Three Witnesses and gave him a mini-Temple Prep. lesson as he is interested in getting endowed soon. He has such a strong testimony, but he deals with some social anxiety which prevents him from coming to church. We had to end the night early as we had to bike home in pouring rain.
SATURDAY (12/30/23): A slower day today again. We went contacting again and didn't have much success. We had dinner and a lesson with Cole again. We talked about his roofing business he is working for, stories about him and his nieces and nephews that he's living with currently, his plan to open a business in New Mexico after moving out of California, etc. We talked to him a little about President Nelson and the importance of a living Prophet.
SUNDAY (12/31/23): Since it was New Years Eve, not many people showed up to Church. We only had 44 people in English Sacrament and 22 in Spanish. The Zone Leaders gave good talks about Faith and Repentance in the Spanish meeting while Bishop Welch gave an incredible talk in our English Meeting. Bishop totally understands why so many members are moving out of California, but I can tell it's hard for him to see the ward shrink so much. Before Covid, 100-120 people would attend each week. Due to Covid, the politics of California, and just how expensive it is to live here, so many people (especially the members) are moving. That's why we are working so heavily with those Inactive Members that are still living here in Watsonville. We ended the night by visiting the Daleys and having dinner with Bishop Welch. We had early curfew due to New Years. Me and my companion went to bed at 9:00 to catch up on our sleep!
MONDAY (1/1/24): New Years Day! Officially the start of my Blackout Year (which is so crazy to think about). We went again contacting some inactive members again but didn't find much success. We said a quick pray with a young kid and then headed off the visit a lady named Gloria, and to our surprise she was home! She is an inactive member who stopped attending church quite a while ago. She is older and deals with back issues and is partially deaf. We talked with her for a while and said a prayer with her to close the discussion. She seems grateful for our time as she gave us her phone number and told us if we were ever hungry that she would feed us. We are totally going to try setting up a dinner with her so that we can teach her and invite her back to church. I also tried to help a lady in her 90's pick up some fruit that she dropped but couldn't understand what we were saying haha! We ended the night by stopping by the home of Sister Salen and wishing her happy birthday!
TUESDAY (1/2/24): We had interviews today with President Larsen. San Jose is about an hour and a half away from Watsonville, so a big chunk of the day was spent driving again. My interview with President went well again! We talked about how we are trying to build up the ward right now, how my studies were going, and some new ways on how to approach new people/inactive members that me and my companion are going to apply. He also said he's preparing me to be a leader soon (being a ZL or DL means absolutely nothing in my opinion: I could care less about being a leader, in all honesty, but I just do as I'm told haha). I absolutely hate the mentality some people have that being in leadership automatically means you're a better missionary because it absolutely doesn't. I also had a lesson with Sister Larsen which went well! We talked about what I had been learning in my personal studies and how I had been adjusting to missionary life. Afterwards, we had a meeting with President Larsen and talked about the two great commandments! After returning back to Watsonville, we ended the night by having dinner with Mickey and playing soccer for sports night. Mickey knows my sister-in-law, Jessica's brother (Elder Lance) as he had served in Watsonville while he was on his mission. What a small world!
Thanks for all the support and love from everyone! I'm so grateful for all you guys, especially my family. They are the most amazing people and I'm so blessed that they are in my life. I'll talk again next week! Elder Copeland
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