Week 66 - October 31, 2022

 What's up, everybody!  This week was great and busy. 

On Thursday, we had Zone Conference, which we had to direct and make sure everything goes smoothly.  It was my first time being in the front directing.  And as I was up there, I was thinking about how I used to be the other missionaries with less time, and I noticed that in the whole room of all the missionaries in HueHue, I would be going home before anyone else.  Pretty crazy having more time than everybody now in the mission.

Right after Zone Conference, I went to Colotenango to do divisions with another Elder.  We traveled a lot to other Aldea's and met some pretty interesting people.  The views were super cool, and I felt like I was back in Momos for a sec. 

 

That night there was a basketball game planned and like 10 investigators came.  So, we played a couple good games which was fun for me to play again.

Then Saturday and Sunday were filled with citas.  We were all over the place.  But the highlight of the week was last night. Late after we had gotten home, one of our neighbors, that is a recently returned missionary in the ward, wanted to talk with us.  So, he brought over hot chocolate and we talked for a little.  But then he opened up about how he decided to serve a mission and how his life has been since being home.  And he started crying talking about how he feels alone because all his friends aren't members, and he feels like there is no future for him here in HueHue.  It was sad to see him crying because he's a really cool kid and has a lot of people that look up to him.  He was even the AP in his mission in Honduras.  But then I started talking and trying to say things that could help him. Then I started talking about how my life in Washington was similar to his.  How I grew up with not many member friends and how I had to make decisions with my faith, even though it was opposite to what everyone else was doing, or I was known as someone that wouldn't do certain things.  And then I started crying haha.  Me and our neighbor were good friends before, but I really felt like we were connected in our stories and have had similar lives.  It was really special for me to talk to him about how many blessings I've seen in my life from choosing to so what Heavenly Father would want me to do.  I'm so thankful for the decisions that I made before my mission to be able to be here and share with everyone my testimony and experiences.  So now our neighbor, Abinidi (sweet name) is thinking about moving to Antigua and starting over.  If you could all keep him in your prayers that would be great. 

Transfer news..... from what we think right now, I'll be staying here in this area and my comp will be leaving.  We don't know for sure, but Wednesday are transfers, so I'll let you all know next week who my next comp is.

I love you all and am so grateful for every single one of you and the impact you have had on my life.  Choose the right and have a good Halloween!

   

    - Elder Copeland

Week 64 and 65 - October 17 and 24, 2022

What's up, everyone!  I hope you all are doing well.  This week and last have been extremely busy.  We have had a lot of consecutive days in our area without stake meetings or divisions with our Zone, so we've been able to really focus and work in our area.  We have two people on date for baptism! And are praying for a third of a 14-year-old, but we are still waiting for the permission from her mother.  So, things are going great in the area.  Lots of new people that we are teaching.  Eighteen in the last two weeks!  Also, two new families that we are super excited about.  It's sometimes rare to find complete, worthy families that aren't members here, so when we do and they are wanting to listen to us, we know they are special.

A really cool story about one of our recent converts is he's been having some trouble with finding work and a place to live, and so he's been living with his girlfriend for a little bit.  We've been talking to him about options so that they can separate, but nothing had been panning out.  We've shared with him a lot of scriptures about acting in faith, and how after we will see the benefits.  And after lots of praying and thinking, he said he's going to move back with his family in the capitol and is going to plan to serve a mission!  A decision like that requires lots of faith, and it has been super cool for us to see how much he's grown to be able to make a life-changing decision like that. 

This week we had leadership counsel with President.  All of the ZL's in the mission get together to share ideas and come up with new practices to help the mission.  It was fun for me to be a part of for the first time and share some of my ideas as well. President really puts a lot of trust in us 12 ZL missionaries to help the mission with whatever it needs.

Nothing else too crazy is going on here, just working like crazy and putting fechas.  But for the past week I haven't been feeling too great with a cold.  Until Saturday when I woke up in the morning, I felt horrible.  I thought I just needed to close my eyes for a sec but my whole body was super tired and I was sweating a lot.  But I didn't want to "be weak" haha, and so we left at 11 am and went and worked like always.  We taught lesson 1 to some people on the side of the road and contacted too, but once we went home for lunch, I thought I was going to pass out.  My whole body just stopped working.  I had like eight different symptoms and couldn't even stand up.  My whole body was sore, and I was shaking a lot.  It probably wasn't the best idea to go out that morning, but I was too prideful to just lay in bed lol.  But anyways, I've been in bed for the past two days but am starting to feel better.  One of the members came and checked on me and they think I have typhoid fever, which is funny.  I think I just got hit by the flu really hard while also having a cold and migraines, which made it worse.  It was not fun at all.  Definitely the most sick I've been throughout my whole mission.  But I'll probably tell my kids one day that I taught a full lesson with typhoid fever haha.

Also, I finished the Book of Mormon again which always feels good.  And I've started to read, "Saints."  I'm already almost done with it after two weeks.  It's amazing and sad, how much the early members had to go through all because of their religion.  They had to have had so much faith in Joseph Smith and in God to keep going.  With mobs, disease, death, leaving their homes.  Their faith makes me want to share with everyone what they had to go through and the gospel that they had so much faith in.  You guys should read it if you haven't! 

But I love you all and miss you guys!  Email me if you have a second.

- Elder Copeland

Pics of the Week

Week 63 - October 10, 2022

 Hey, everyone!  This week flew by.  We've been nonstop busy with everything; it feels like time doesn't even exist. 

  

This week we had divisions with the AP's in our area, which were great.  The day afterwards, we went to go visit missionaries in the Zone.  So, me and one of the APs, went to the farthest area in the whole mission called Barillas, which is a 7 1/2-hour bus ride to get there from HueHue... it was not fun.  And our bus got stuck so we had to take a different road because of a car accident on the way.  It was a mess.  About 75 percent dirt road with holes and water.  But some of the views were really cool.  The area is near the northern border of Mexico, and the missionaries there have been opening a branch that has never had sacrament meetings ever.  A lot of the people they talk to have never even heard of "Mormons," which is crazy.  So that visit went well, the drive back was horrible though.

A lot of the rest of the week was filled with citas.  We had like six a day with zero time to stop.  My favorite thing to do is teach, and so teaching people all day long is the best.  We started teaching a couple new people and had two of them come to church!

My favorite part of the week was going to church and seeing over 125 people there.  My comp said that the average is about 100 here, so to see the sacrament room filled was really cool--especially for me because in most of my mission, I've been in tiny branches with not a ton of people each week.  So, I gave my testimony on how thankful I was to be there with them and see all of them at church and taking the sacrament.

 

 Lots of work here and I'm loving it.  I hope you all are doing well!

 - Elder Copeland 

Pics of the Week

Week 62 - October 3, 2022

 Hey, everyone!  Really good week here in HueHuetenango.  I'm now a lot more accustomed to the work and area here and I love it.  

We weren't able to find many new people through our contacts, but we put a Hermana on date for baptism and also have another Hermano that we taught last night in the baptismal font room, which was really cool. 

This week we did divisions with the Elders in our Zone, all the way out in the Huistas.  Their area borders Mexico, and they live like 30 minutes from the border.  

It was a 4-hour drive to their area from HueHue and took longer because immigration stopped the bus and checked everyone to see where they were going.  There were people sitting next to me that said they were from Ecuador, trying to get to the states.  Crazy. 

But the division was great.  Me and a brand-new missionary (from Lone Peak, too) had a great lesson with a new family they just found, and we put them on date for baptism in the lesson as well.

Now this weekend, General Conference was so amazing. Before conference started, I wrote down some questions, and one was, "What's the theme of this conference?  What is the message we need to hear in this session?"  And as I was listening, I felt like the message was, Jesus Christ.  Everything we do, everything good, is because of him.  Everything that we need, we can turn to him.  There was a lot about charity and being like Christ as well.  But another topic that I liked was that we need to be strengthening our testimonies constantly because when we encounter trials, our faith is going to be what helps us to overcome them.  And trials are meant to help us, not lessen our faith in him.  There were a lot of amazing talks. But Elder Rasband's was especially cool because after he invited the world to share a Book of Mormon that day, me and my comp went out and had a family home evening with some less actives.  We gave them each a Book of Mormon and invited them to write their testimonies inside the from cover of the book.  Then we asked if there was anyone that they could give the book to.  They all looked to one of the Hermanas in the room because she's not a member.  And my comp thought she was haha.  But because of us fulfilling an invitation from an apostle, we were able to find a new person to teach that is really interested.  Quiero invitarles, to go and share the Book of Mormon with someone, or at least your testimony of the Book of Mormon.  You never know how much good might come from it.  Sharing the gospel is the most important thing we can do in this life.  I promise you won't regret it.

Then, the best part of conference happened.  Hearing the Prophet say, "HueHuetenango, Guatemala" for a new temple was so surreal.  Almost everyone was crying haha.  All of the members in the sacrament room just were shocked and overtaken by the Spirit.  It was really cool.  It was one of the coolest things ever to hear the prophet say my area where I'm serving right now, in General Conference.  I feel so lucky to be here and the beginning of this new era of the work.  I had an impression that all of the past missionaries before me were probably saying, "I served there."  But I'm actually the one that is here right now and so I know I have a large responsibility to work the hardest I can here to prepare the area and people for a temple. I couldn't be more motivated to do it.  I love HueHue already and love the people.

 The Huehuetenango Guatemala Temple will be the fifth house of the Lord in the highlands of western Guatemala. The other four temples are the Cobán Guatemala Temple (under construction), Guatemala City Guatemala Temple, Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple (announced), and Quetzeltenango Guatemala Temple. Guatemala is home to more than 284,000 Latter-day Saints in 436 wards and branches.

 I love you and miss you all.  Share your testimonies!!

 - Elder Copeland