For P-day today, we went down to the Redwoods since Elder Isaacon had never gone before! I've been twice before, so I had seen it! You kinda just reach a point in your mission where you've done everything and everything is just kinda boring! Not to sound negative or all, but nothing really excites me or makes me happy out here anymore! Gratitude has taken me a long way!
I talked to my family for a second today since they were at Disneyland! It made me pretty trunky seeing Navy at Disney haha! It's ok though!
After the Redwoods, we went and drove past the boardwalk so Elder Isaacson could see! For the rest of P-day, we took a nap, wrote our emails, went shopping, and talked to our families! The craziest thing that happened today was seeing a couple at the church parking lot doing something very inappropriate in their car 🤣; we were shocked and disgusted at what was happening! The couple in the car noticed that we had seen them and were pretty embarrassed haha! Like seriously, people don't use common sense or common courtesy anymore! Who's going to do that in a church parking lot during the day 🤢🤣; they definitely saw us laughing and pointing at them! Overall kind of a basic P-Day! I only got 7 more P-days out here, so I'm kinda just wrapping things up!
And for this email I'm basically gonna summarize everything that happened, since it was a pretty slow week! Elder Isaacson is pretty trunky, which I don't blame him at all, so we really haven't been doing much! I've just kinda been doing whatever he wants to do!
On Thursday, we quote "weekly planned" and then visited the Lepez Martinez Family. We talked with Martha and her family for a while. Apparently, a realtor who lives down here in Hollister had sold them a refrigerator that doesn't work (it cost them $500) which they were pretty upset about which is understandable! After talking to them for a second, we had a good lesson with Juan and Dora. We talked to Dora about her baptism and how she felt! She told us she had never felt better and that she was feeling a sense of peace in her life that she has never felt before! She's doing so awesome and has already become integrated into the Branch! Juan was there, too, so we began to teach him as well! We explained to Juan why covenants are necessary and how we are blessed when we keep and make them! We went over the Atonement with him again and read from the Book of Alma! We also went over the Gift of the Holy and how it's necessary and how it blesses us! Juan desires more peace and comfort in his life so we are trying to better help him understand how the Holy Ghost allows him to receive that! We tried giving Juan a date and invited him to pray about getting baptized and making a covenant with God. He told us how he still doesn't feel ready yet and how he's currently just watching! We tried explaining to him the importance of having faith and acting on certain things, even if we don't have a perfect knowledge or aren't quite sure of a certain thing, and we bore our testimonies powerfully! The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest blessing any person can receive! We tried our very best to help him understand the importance of getting baptized and how much it would bless him and help him out with his day-to-day life, but he kept telling us he just wasn't ready yet; I was pretty frustrated after the lesson because of how close I know he is and because of how much it would help him! We are going to continue meeting with him and keeping him in our prayers 🙏. Elder Isaacson was pretty bummed that he didn't get to see him baptized before he left! Hopefully I can get him baptized next transfer so that he can come back out with his family!
On Friday, we basically only taught Diego at the church! It had been a couple weeks since we had last seen him, so it was good to talk with him again! We went over the Plan of Salvation with him again and the importance of temples! He was able to retain some of the knowledge that he had already been taught! He also for some reason kind of went on a tangent on how war is evil and how the adversary wants us to fight and be contentious (which he's right about haha). He also for some reason let us know that he had been shot, we didn't get the story behind it, and he showed us his wound on the back of his back 🙃. It was actually pretty crazy! He also told us some pretty sad/scary things that were happening with his sister (I guess her ex-bf was threatening them) so he asked us to keep them in their prayers! We also went over the way we pray with Diego, and he seemed to understand it 🤣; hopefully he prays with a little more reverence. We always have interesting but good conversations with Diego! We also got bashed by some dude on his doorstep, but we just bore our testimonies on the Book of Mormon.
On Saturday, we basically just invited as many people as we could to church! Elder Isaacson also had to give a baptismal interview to one of the Sisters' friends named Cresencio; Crescenio really wants to get baptized but he's going to have to wait until he figures out his marriage situation with his wife in Mexico. Apparently, he's not married to his wife in Mexico. He's also moving to Washington in a couple weeks to begin work! The Sisters are going to have the missionaries teach him! I have faith that he'll be able to get baptized one day! He's a really good guy! Later that day, we taught Daniel again at the church with Hermano Montuy! We explained to him the Apostasy, the Restoration (we showed him President Nelson's proclamation on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: it's one of my favorite videos of all time), and re-explained to him the story of Joseph Smith and his prophetic calling from God! We shared examples of scriptures found throughout the Book of Mormon and Bible with him to better help him understand the importance of prophets and the commandments! It was a long, but effective, conversation with him! Hermano Montuy was able to help out a ton and he bore his testimony on the Priesthood Power and how blessings throughout his time with cancer have helped him to heal! He also bore his testimony on the Restoration and importance of missionary work and how missionaries (he calls them angels) were sent to him and his family as a kid and how his life was forever blessed and changed because of the missionaries that taught them! Daniel definitely felt the Spirit! Hermano Montuy got pretty emotional, which is really not normal for him, and definitely was a powerful moment not only for us, but him as well! After our lesson with Daniel, we went over the baptismal interview questions and he passed them all! He was now ready to be baptized the following Saturday which we were so excited about!
On Sunday, we had a really really good fast and testimony meeting! So many members were able to come up and bear their testimonies! It felt like almost every single testimony was indirectly pointed towards Juan since they were talking about how much they've been blessed because of the missionaries, the covenant of baptism, and the gospel as a whole! We're hoping Juan was able to learn and feel something special during the testimonies that were given; I definitely felt and learned a lot! Daniel and Diego were able to come to church as well! After Sunday School, Juan and Dora came up to us asking for help! Dora is trying her absolute best to try and find a job so that she can help pay their rent! They were really struggling and pretty stressed that they weren't going to be able to pay their week's rent! They asked us for help, so I informed President Starkweather, and he was able to get them the help they needed thankfully! We are going to visit with them the following day and help them look for a job for Dora! The rest of the Sunday was pretty chill! We helped the Lepez family dig a trench for their water pipe and then we went over and had dinner with Nordstroms at their house! They are about to leave on a mission, so we were able to give him some advice!
On Monday, we had Zone Council in Gilroy! We talked about our divine worth as sons and daughters of God and how the Plan of Salvation allows us to live with our loved ones forever! Apparently, the Zone Leaders had sent messages to the parents/family of the missionaries in our Zone so that they could make videos and then show them to us during the Zone Council! Well, everyone had their family send them a video except mine 🤣; I guess no one in my family saw the messages that we sent so I was like the only missionary during the whole thing that didn't have a video made for them 🤣; everyone was thinking that I didn't have a family or that my family didn't love me during the whole thing! I had to explain to them what I did!!! Instead, Jacob Empey made a video and sent it to me instead 😆; overall it was a funny, but kinda embarrassing, situation! It wasn't a big deal at all! It was pretty funny, and I gave my family a hard time about it (jokingly of course).
Afterwards, we had District Council and went over our areas and our progressing friends! It was Elder Isaacson's final district council, so we all went around and talked about our mission experiences and the things we've learned and have gained since being out here! There's many things that I've learned and come to better understand throughout my time as a missionary, but gratitude and the Plan of Salvation really come to mind! After District Council, we headed back to Hollister to begin the day! We said hi to Henry and brought him a Sprite and Reese's! We also brought him some ties and showed him how to tie them! He's seriously the best! Afterwards, we went and visited Claudia and her family! Elder Isaacson had a PVCP bull that he roped on during his time as a missionary; he wasn't going to bring it home with him, so he just gave it to the Poras girls! They were having fun with it ahah! After, we went over to the Kratzers to have dinner and share a spiritual thought with them! We ended the night by visiting Juan and Dora at the church! We helped Dora with job applications, and we informed as many members of the branch as possible about her situation! Hopefully they'll be able to look around and maybe help her find a job! We aren't going to stop until we help find a job! Juan asked us why members of the church are always so nice and willing to serve and help others! We explained how the church is very family-oriented and how we treat everyone as if they were a part of our family! We also explained to him how the Savior was the perfect example of service and how service allows us to help others! We also re-emphasized the importance of the Atonement and how the Savior can help strengthen and guide us during difficult times in our lives! We always have good conversations with Juan and Dora! I'm so grateful for them! Juan is soooo close!
Tuesday was Navy's birthday, so I got to call and wish her Happy Birthday! I can't believe she's one year old! It's crazy to think that I was a missionary when she was born! I've been out here a long time haha!
We were finally also able to get in contact with Eddy and teach him with the English Sisters! Eddy is very low functioning due to the strokes he's had in the past! We were asking him if any females were home so that the sisters could come and he looked at us and said, "Yeah, there are two right there!" We look over and it's the Sister Missionaries. We are trying our best to help him. The Sisters stood at the doorstep, and we very simply taught him about God being our loving Heavenly Father and the importance of Jesus Christ and his role as our Savior! He told us he was frustrated with his current situation and how he wasn't healing physically and how he couldn't do the things he used to be able to do because of his condition and eyesight! We read from the Book of Mormon and explained to him how the Savior allows us to be spiritually healed even if we aren't able to be physically healed: that gave him a lot of comfort! We also taught him how to pray; he had never learned before, so we said pray out loud and had him repeat back after us! I feel so bad for Eddy, and I really do think the gospel and a covenant relationship with God would bless his life!
After Eddy, we came back to the church and watched the Restoration movie with Daniel to help solidify the story of Joseph Smith! It was the first time I watched it in Spanish! He understood better now why we have baptisms for the dead and the importance of the temples after learning about the story of Alvin Smith! After watching the movie, we explained why the gold plates were returned to the Angel Moroni after the translation of the Book of Mormon (Faith), the law of Tithing and where the money goes to, and how the Spirit allows us to discern between good and evil: We had him read Moroni 7! After going over the questions with him one more time, he fully committed to getting baptized! It was a long lesson, but we just had to clear up a couple things before! Afterwards, we went and said hi to Morris and his wife while they were eating dinner; we ended the night by helping teach English Class and giving a blessing to the members of the Spanish branch!
Also, a really cool thing happened this week! For some reason, the number we use here in Hollister was added to a group chat of Hermano Mateo and the members and missionaries serving in Arroyo Seco (Greenfield). Apparently, the whole time while I've been gone from Greenfield, Irma was pregnant! It's the reason why they haven't been as active, and I had no idea! Apparently, Clemente and Irma were in the hospital because their newborn baby girl was there dealing with some pretty significant health problems! I knew instantly that the Elders up in Palo Alto needed to go and give the baby a blessing! I was able to get the number of Clemente and text him! He was super happy to hear from me! After texting with him for a minute and figuring out his situation, I asked him if it would be OK if the Elders up there could pass by and give his baby a blessing! He said yes and I was able to get into contact with Elder Perschon and his companion and let him know about the situation! Elder Perschon was able to get permission and to give Clemente and Irma's baby a blessing! He told me it went really well and that they were so grateful that he was able to come! The baby is doing a lot better now and they'll be heading back to Greenfield on Thursday! Truly one of the biggest miracles of my mission! Idk why our number was added to this group chat, but I know it was for a reason! I'm going to continue to stay in touch with Clemente and his family! They are such amazing people who have truly helped me see the good in others! They'll always be in my prayers! Elder Copeland
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