Monday, January 22, 2024

Week 18 - January 21, 2024

How's everyone doing!  I'm doing well!  The work is still pretty slow here in Watsonville, but we are still able to teach and meet people!  Some days are definitely more fulfilling than others though.  I'm learning so much from Elder Empey!  We study a lot of Church History and Doctrinal Topics together which is really enjoyable.  Me and him get along really well!  I think we'll most likely stay together next transfer.  I'm starting to get more used to being a missionary.  The mission is still hard, but that's how it's supposed to be.  I'm practicing my Spanish constantly, but I need to start speaking more.  I've never been the most outgoing guy, but I'll get there!



WEDNESDAY (1/10/24):  Another pretty chill P-day.  We cleaned up our apartment, did our laundry, and went to the church to play basketball and soccer.  Overall, nothing too crazy happened today.
THURSDAY (1/11/24):  We did some more contacting today and then had a lesson with Cole and his Family.  Cole is originally from Wisconsin but moved to Watsonville to stay with his aunt and uncle's family while he works on roofing.  We acted out the story of Nephi slaying Laban when commanded to do so and the importance of having faith and following the commandments.  Sister and Brother Hasting have young kids, so we tried to make the lesson interactive.  Cole never puts in the effort to read from the Book of Mormon without us there, so we taught him the story!  We want to try and have more lessons with Cole, but he lives almost 45 minutes away from us on bikes in the middle of nowhere.  He loves coming to church but has no desire to read or progress without us there. Hopefully we can figure something out!
FRIDAY (1/12/24):  We had Zone Conference today and it went pretty well!  We talked about who/what we want to become on our missions, the two great commandments (we talk about this one a lot), how loving and serving those we teach brings true happiness, how to make a contact meaningful, the importance of diligence and patience, and topics of the Restoration.  It was a lot, but we definitely learned a lot.  After Zone Conference, I started to not feel very well.  I ended up sleeping most of the day and resting.

SATURDAY (1/13/24):  I woke up today feeling a lot better!  We did some contacting, wrote our talks for Sacrament meeting, and then had a really good lesson with Orlando!  We talked about some of the things we learned in Zone Conference the day before (the two great commandments) and then read the "Peacemakers Needed" by President Nelson.  This is definitely one of my favorite talks in all of General Conference.  It's so applicable to each and every single one of us.  Not only was Jesus our Savior and Redeemer, but he was the ultimate example of how we should strive to be like.  He represented and showed character traits that all of us need to apply in our lives.  (Love and Charity, Kindness, Humility, Service, Faith, Virtue/Integrity; having the knowledge to be able to discern wrong from right and the willingness to hold yourself to high moral standards, diligence and the importance of working hard, etc.)  After, we talked a little more with Orlando about the temple and preparing him to receive his temple recommend.  Orlando is seriously so cool!
SUNDAY (1/14/24):  A lot of people came to church today! Orlando came to church today!  Everyone was super happy to see him.  I gave a talk in our Spanish sacrament meeting, and it went pretty good, until I bore my testimony.  For some reason while bearing my testimony I said, "Yo se que José Smith es nuestro Salvador," which translates to, "I know that Joseph Smith is our Savior."   I was so embarrassed I started laughing at the pulpit in front of the whole congregation.  It was alright though because everyone understood what I meant! After church, we went and tried contacting some referrals we had received.  One of the ladies that had referred herself told us that she didn't want to have a lesson, which was a little disappointing.  After dinner with the Welch's, we helped Elder Butikofer and Elder Pepper teach Gloria.  Gloria is one of the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet!  We taught Gloria that true discipleship of Jesus Christ starts when we choose to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost.  We explained to her what the Gift of the Holy Ghost is and how she can always have that feeling with her, even when the Elders are gone.  We all shared our testimonies and left!  We had a quick street contact before ending the night and taught him about the restoration. 
MONDAY (1/15/24):  After district council, we had a mini exchange with the Zone Leaders.  Me and Elder Butikofer went parking lot contacting for a couple hours and handed out Books of Mormon and set up return dates.  We got yelled at by one guy saying we were being brainwashed by our silver plates and that we couldn't be saved.  We weren't gonna put in effort to talk to him, so we just ignored him.  Also, another guy start getting after us for our church being quote on quote "racist."  I didn't bash with him, but I shared 2 Nephi 26:33 and basically explained to him how all are alike unto God.  He seemed to have a change of heart afterwards about our Church, which was good.  To end the night, we tried visiting our recent convert Cristian, but we found out that he had moved to Los Angeles without telling any of us.  While biking home, we had a guy come up to us and ask us if we believed in Joseph Smith and the "12 plates."  We tried teaching him, but he was pretty drunk. 
TUESDAY (1/16/24):  Today was a bit of a slower day.  We tried visiting more inactive members, but we weren't able to get any responses.  However, one of our friends we have been trying to get in contact with for a while named Salvador finally was home!  We talked with for a while and set up a return date!  He seems really cool and I'm excited to have a lesson with him.  We ended the night with Soccer Night, and it went well.  We had some friends come which is always good.  I'm convinced I'll never be able to get soccer down though haha; it's so ridiculously hard!  It's still fun regardless.  Love, Elder Copeland

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