Hi, everyone! Sorry for not emailing last week! It was a pretty typical week. We had some good lessons, and I was able to give Salvador a blessing which was pretty cool! We had transfers last week and things got crazy! To my surprise, me and Elder Johnson found out that we we're staying together and that we'd be getting a car. I like Watsonville a lot so I'm glad I'm staying here another transfer with Elder Johnson. We're keeping the bikes as well, so it'll be nice to have both! My Spanish vocabulary is improving immensely. I'm getting a lot better at understanding what I'm reading and what people are saying. I'm still struggling to speak it though which is frustrating. I already have a hard enough time talking in English without mumbling half of my words; adding Spanish pronunciation/vocabulary on top of that it makes it really difficult. I'm definitely taking it day by day. Hopefully I continue to improve!
WEDNESDAY (3/6/24): We went to the Santa Cruz boardwalk and walked around it for a bit. The best part was seeing the dozens of seals sitting below the pier. It was raining while we were there, but it wasn't too bad. After, we went to the Stake Center to sign transfer journals and play some basketball. I ended the night by talking with my family.
THURSDAY (3/7/24): We had to drive up with the Zone Leaders to pick up our car at the Mission Office. It was fun seeing Elder Empey and other missionaries I have served around with. We helped a companionship of Elders move their stuff to their new apartment. After returning back to Watsonville, we didn't have much time due to the drive there and back. We tried visiting some inactive members' houses and most weren't home. Those who were home told us that the people living there had moved. We tried teaching them, but they wanted nothing to do with us. While heading back to the car, some guy got pretty confrontational with us and kept asking us if we were Mormons. We kept telling him we were LDS, but he wasn't having it haha. We got out of there quick.
FRIDAY (3/8/24): We got a referral from a man named Andy. We tried knocking his door, but he wasn't home. After, we had a really good lesson with an inactive member named Isiah. We had been trying to set something up with him for a while, but it always fell through. Luckily through, we were finally able to have a lesson with him. Isiah is such a cool guy. He gave us free Body Armors, sparkling water, and colognes (which I am currently using). He explained to us his job as a nighttime security guard, his baptism, covenants and the importance of going to church. He had questions about the Kingdoms of Glory, so we clarified that as well. Elder Johnson was pretty sick, so we spent the rest of the day in the apartment. I basically just cleaned, studied, and prepped some things that needed to be done.
SATURDAY (3/9/24): We had a lesson with a referral we had received named Nora. We taught her about the importance of becoming a "saint" through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and read the story of King Benjamin with her. We also taught her a little bit about the Atonement and read Alma 7 with her. In addition to this, her daughter came out and we taught her about church and the reason we partake of the sacrament every week. We left her with a Book of Mormon, and she seems genuinely interested. However, the husband of Nora and the father of their daughter was absolutely crazy. He started getting in our faces about baptism and how we weren't Christians and so forth. He spoke in the fastest Spanish I had ever heard. We were gonna pull out some scriptures to prove him wrong, but we understood that would just cause even more problems. In the end, we just bore our testimonies how contention always drives the Spirit away and he became way nicer afterwards. This took up a lot of the day unfortunately. We ended the night by having a lesson with our friend Marcos and encouraged him to read the chapter from the Book of Mormon we left him.
SUNDAY (3/10/24): I was so sick today. My throat had never hurt so bad in my life. I'm pretty sure my companion got me sick, but it's all right haha. We stayed home the whole day. I slept most of the day. It was difficult though because main street was having a car show and everyone was revving their cars ups, playing music, and honking.
MONDAY (3/11/24): Today was my birthday. It was a pretty normal day. We had district council and talked about the importance of making covenants. While making lunch, I got confetti bombed by Elder Pepper and Elder Morris which was pretty funny. I also had to clean dog waste off my shoe which wasn't very fun. We did some contacting and then had a lesson with another referral we had received named Marivel. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We ended the night by sitting around the fire at our apartment's terrace with the other Elders in our district.
TUESDAY(3/12/24): We got bashed again by some guy claiming the Bible was the "only word of God." We got a little fed up, so we explained to him why he was wrong and how we know the Book of Mormon is true. The more and more I've been on my mission, the more I realize just how important it is to read the Book of Mormon. People would understand us so much more if they just took the time to read from it. We had another lesson with our friend Nora. She was telling us how her husband (the one who yelled at us a couple days ago) had been saying that we weren't Christians and that we married multiple wives. We explained to her the truth and testified on the importance of discerning truth from error from the Spirit. We ended the night with soccer! Elder Copeland
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