I hope everyone's week has gone well! Here's how my week went!
WEDNESDAY (5/15/24): Super fun p-day! I convinced the district to go to Pebble Beach and see the course. We got to walk around the shops, see the course, go to the Visitor Center (bought some souvenirs) and went to the lookout point by hole 18. I'm definitely coming back to play here after the mission! After, we went with our Zone to play an escape room they had set up in the chapel. It was fun, but I would have preferred to stay at Pebble Beach and look around more. We ended the night by shopping and teaching English class; I'm always so blessed and grateful that I'm able to talk with my family every week as well!
THURSDAY (5/16/24): After my daily workout, I went to go shower. While showing, I pulled the handle a little too hard (way too hard) causing it to snap off. I was able to shower, but I wasn't able to turn the water off. We had a morning devotional with Elder Steven C. Merril and talked about the importance of High Love and High Expectations. After finishing our studies and waiting for the handy man, we headed out. We tried visiting some people, but none of them were home. We talked to some vendor on the street afterwards, but he wasn't really interested. After, we headed to King City to give the sisters blessings. After, a member in the ward asked us if we could give her a blessing as well. While in her house, her son came up to me and asked for a blessing as well. I was able to give and assist in three blessings today: it was a cool experience!
After, we headed back to Greenfield to teach some of our recent converts (Jessica and Genaro) about the Book of Mormon, Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how all are alike unto God. After, while Elder Candia was talking to Vilma (another one of our progressing friends), I kept Cesar and Brian entertained by playing soccer with them. After, we taught our friend Sheila about the Holy Ghost and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She's younger so we left her a "Book of Mormon Story Children's Book" for her to read. I'm definitely going to start handing those out more. It explains the stories simply and even has pictures! After, we said hi to Natalia and her family and then headed up to Soledad to get Elder Candia a haircut.
FRIDAY (5/17/24): Since Elder Candia is DL, he was asked to go up to MLC for half of the day in San Jose. So, I went up to Soleded for half of the day with Elder Isaacson and Elder Markham. We met a pretty cool guy up there and then met with of the members in the ward to help him discuss a couple things. Apparently, he has had some disagreements with some of the members in the past which was disheartening to see. This prevents him from coming to Church. It's alright, I know the other Elders will help him out! After, we had to go help lift Hermano Villa out of his wheelchair into his bed. After, on the way to meet up with Elder Candia and the other Elders, we saw a car pulled over to the side of the road with their hazard lights on. We pulled over to see if they needed help. Instantly, the guy got out of his car telling us that he had lost his wallet and that he needed money to get back home to his house in Washington; he tried giving us a Rolex and a bunch of other jewelry he had in exchange for money. It was very obviously a scam, so we just left haha: kind of a crazy experience for sure.
After heading back to Greenfield, we met with Silvia and talked about how we can overcome adversaries through Jesus Christ; Siliva is the best! She loves the missionaries so much and is eager to learn more and progress. After, we met with our friend Elvira and read 2 Nephi 26:24 and talked about how all given the gift of salvation and exaltation through Jesus Christ; I've just recently reread 2 Nephi 26, it's such a powerful chapter. After, we taught our friends Sheila and Tania about faith and how it ties into the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sheila and Tania can speak Triki, Spanish, and English and they're only 12-15. Meanwhile, I'm 20 and I'm struggling to learn Spanish haha. We ended the night by talking with Freddy about some things before his baptism on June 1. While Elder Candia was playing football with Cesar and Brian, Freddy opened up to me about how he's trying to change his life around and some girl drama he's experienced in the past; I was basically his therapist for an hour, but I was more than happy to; I'm very glad he feels comfortable opening up to us and that he's progressing!
SATURDAY (5/18/24): Pretty busy day! We went finding and found some pretty cool people; we taught some guys drinking big bottles of tequila about the Gospel of Jesus Christ; they were pretty drunk, but they seemed to like the message. We also met a pretty cool lady named Rosa. We talked about how we can find peace and joy in this life through the Book of Mormon. She told us she loves to read and seemed interested in coming to our English Class as well. After, we taught Adan about the Apostacy. He was wearing the funniest shirt. On the shirt wrote (dadcula) with a bunch of spiders with his face on it 🤣. After, we dropped off some toy cars for Arlene and her family. Our lesson with Naveah was tough; the kids were pretty out of control and weren't paying attention today. We're trying really hard to be there for them and their friend; their family is going through a really difficult time and it's affecting them mentally, physically and spiritually; I pray for them every single day! After, we went with Natalia and talked more about faith and how we can grow our desire in Jesus Christ; it's really hard for them to come to church since their mother attends a different communion up in Soledad. After, we had a lesson with Vilma, Silivia and Eduardo. We watched the "Pray, He is There," general conference talk and talked about the importance of prayer afterwards. We talked about how when we think "celestial," put our faith in God and Jesus Christ, and follow the teachings of the Gospel here on earth: we'll be blessed in this and the next life to come! After, we had a good lesson with Sheila! She was able to read the first 8 chapters of the "Book of Mormon Stories" Book. Her favorite part was when Nephi built and completed the boat; we watched the Book of Mormon video about it and talked about how we can overcome challenges and trials through faith in Jesus Christ and prayer. After Tony and Adrian's, I played football with Brian and Cesar while Elder Candia taught our friend Vilma. We explained to them who God and Jesus Christ were.
SUNDAY (5/19/24): Pretty hard day today; for some reason I wasn't feeling it. Before church, we helped lift Hermano Villa out of his bed into his chair. We also stopped by Natalia inviting her to church. Church went pretty well! Natalia, Silivia, Bryan, and Cezar all came to church! The kids were a little crazy during church but nothing too bad. We also got to go to class with Natalia which was fun. T he ward had a Linger Longer after, so they were preoccupied with the food. While they were eating, we watched the 3 Nephi 18 Book of Mormon video and talked about the Sacrament. Hermano Mateo also shared his testimony with them! These kids are so ready to be baptized; they come to every activity/service and have the desire! We're trying hard to convince their parents to let them. I pray every single day that their parents will soften their hearts and allow them to be baptized! On our way home, we saw our recent convert (Consuelo) and pulled over to talk to her! She comes to church every week, but her family isn't baptized; we're going to try and start teaching them! After lunch and studies, we helped take Hermano Villa back to his house. After, we had a good lesson with Freddy. We talked about Moroni Chapter 10 and talked about faith, hope, and spiritual gifts. We also talked about forgiveness and showed him President Nelson's Easter message on forgiveness (it' such a powerful video: I'll definitely be watching it again). After our lesson, I talked with Freddy about music, goals, and life as a whole while Elder Candia played football with the kids. We ended by going to the "Why I Believe" fireside up in Seaside with our friends. It was really cool to hear people's conversion stories and how they become converts in our church; it really gave me a different perspective of missionary work!
MONDAY (5/20/24): We drove up to Solenas to have Zone Council. During Zone Council, we talked about the importance of accountability and setting high (but realistic) goals for ourselves as a Companionship, District, Zone and a Mission as a whole. We also talked about the importance of talking to every single person. After, we had District Council where we talked more about faith and the things we learned in ZC. After lunch, we headed back to Greenfield to start the day! Me and Elder Candia made a goal to try and find as many people as we could this week! We were able to find 10 people today! Some were more interested than others, so we'll see how it goes from here! I know the more we try and find, the more likely we'll find even just one person who is really interested. After finding, we had a lesson with Freddy! We're continuing to help him progress for his baptism! After seeing how he was doing, we went over the Atonement again and how it ties into the Plan of Salvation and the resurrection of our souls. We talked about the importance of the Priesthood and having a modern day prophet as well! After, we played some spike ball with Brian, Cesar, and the rest of the kids. They live a really hard life, and it breaks my heart. I'm so glad we're able to bring joy and happiness in their lives! We ended the night by teaching Sheila about King Benjamin's address from the Book of Mormon stories book and explained to her the Atonement; she's so awesome! She reads everything we leave with her and more! She definitely has the desire to continue to progress and learn!
TUESDAY (5/21/24): We had another really busy day! We went and found a lot of people at the laundromats, parks, and apartments near us. We ran into some crazy people at the laundromat who were questioning if we were Mormons or members of the Watch Tower organization; we got out of there quick haha. After finding, we had a really good lesson with a recent convert named Celso. We talked about the Priesthood and the importance of faith and making further covenants after being baptized. We talked about how we grow our faith and how action is required as well; it was a really good lesson! We're going to help him get back to church! After, we had another really good lesson with Natalia; we talked about how her experience was at church and we explained to her how our church is organized/ran. We helped her to understand that everyone is welcomed into the Church of Jesus Christ and read 2 Nephi 26 with her. While we were talking, her mom came home, and we began to talk to her; we asked how she would feel if Natalia progressed towards getting baptized and she was surprisingly open to it! Hopefully everything will work out with Natalia; she's really cool, and we want to help her progress. After, we tried visiting Freddy, but he wasn't home. We talked with Cesar and Brian and made sure they were coming to sports night. After, we had a lesson with Sheila and her sister where we taught them how to pray. We ended the night by having sports night; me and Cesar played some basketball and soccer. Elder Copeland
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