Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Week 21 - December 26, 2016

Hiya, guys! 

It was great to see you all!  

 (Elder Copeland's Christmas call to his family.)
I don't have a lot to talk about this week because I just saw you all, but pretty much this week was a lot of finding and a lot of breaks and just hanging out with ward members and the other missionaries.   It was great!  We got to watch some movies too, I think High School Musical was my favorite haha! 

Christmas was unreal!  I loved it so much!  Seeing everyone doing well made me happy. Yesterday we were also able to go to Loch Ness!!!  I took loads of photos, so I hope you enjoy them all! 





 (The 14th through 16th Century remains of the Urquhart Castle which sits beside Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland.)


(A full-sized, working trebuchet (stone-throwing machine).)















 (No sightings of Nellie--the Loch Ness Monster today!)





 

I have no time on the computer since today is a little weird, but I will be getting New Year's Eve and New Years off too, and I will email on Tuesday!  I love you all.  I am sorry this is so short, but I will talk to you soon!  Have a wonderful week! 

Elder Copeland

Monday, December 19, 2016

Week 20 - December 19, 2016

A Miraculous Week!

Hello, Family!  It was good to hear from you all, I am glad you all have had a great week and spent lots of time with family and friends.  I miss being able to just hang out with you all, especially at this time.  But, the work goes on and I am here for that reason.  I can celebrate more when I get home.  This week was great!  A lot of highs and lows, and more importantly, a miracle from God!  Thank you so much for all the prayers and support, I really can feel the love you all have for me through the Spirit!

Tuesday:  Today was a great day!  We got invited to go to lunch with Zsolt.  We went to this underground buffet called the Shak, it was unreal!  We ate a bunch and had fun.  

Elder Carlisle and my food from the buffet place; almost as good as Chuck-a-rama ;)

We then taught a few lessons to some less actives and then Kate!  We were talking to her, and she was telling us how she is leaving back home to Kenya on the 27th, and Elder C and I had thought that this was going to be her last lesson with us.  I have been teaching her since the day I got here, and to be honest, I thought we weren't accomplishing anything.  I have taught her everything over and over except for Temples.  We taught her about how we can be sealed to our families forever, and I felt the Spirit so strongly as I testified how I will be able to take my wife there one day and be able to have a family forever.  After that, I asked her one last time, 'So, Kate, we have taught you everything and you are leaving soon, but I want to know if you are willing to follow the example of Jesus Christ, and be baptized by someone holding the Holy Priesthood of God?'  The Spirit was so powerful, right there and then she said, "I want to be there one day.  I want to be baptized on FRIDAY!  WHATTT AHH!  It was one of the most incredible lessons I have ever had!  After that lesson, we realized that we had a lot to do to make this happen so quickly!!  What a miracle!

Wednesday:  A bunch of lessons with Rc's and La's, just trying to spread the Christmas Spirit and love God has for them at this time!  We taught Kate again, to help her go over the Baptism interview questions.  We then got invited to a Christmas dinner from a friend we made at Uni.  We get there, and it's like 15 students.  The good thing is they're all part of Christian Union, so they are all great people.  Only problem is, when two dudes in white shirts and ties and a badge with Jesus Christ show up and crash it, there are a lot of questions.  Pretty much I had no time to even eat food, I was being bombarded with questions.  That's Aberdeen, the students who believe in God have very different opinions than us haha, and they all study philosophy and theology so you get used to having to use analogies and big words for them to understand!  I have learned quite a lot from my Bible since I have been here.

Thursday:  Another day of Lessons and GQ'ing.  We went over to the church at night and had Kate's interview.  She passed and was so excited to get baptized!! 

Friday:  A few lessons in the morning, and then the baptism!!!  Everything went so well!  We had a decent turn out for such a last minute baptism, and she asked me to baptize her, WOW!  It was such an incredible experience!  The Spirit was so strong and she was really feeling it.  Such a good day.  Afterwards, we had sweets and called it a day!

 (Kate's Baptism)


Saturday:  More lessons, then the Ward had a Christmas Party!  It was good too see everyone with their families, and they had the little kids do the Nativity.  It was cute.  Not much more today!

Sunday:  We had a great church service.  Kate was able to be confirmed and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, she loved it!  After church, we had our weekly planning and then went over to the Aberdeen Ward for their Christmas Carol Concert, it was good fun!  I love the Spirit of Christmas and the love you can feel from God as we all serve others and focus on the true importance of the holidays! 

Today we are only having half a P day, considering we get Christmas Eve, Christmas, boxing day, and New Year's off!  Tomorrow we also are going down to Edinburgh for our All Scotland for the transfer!  Can you believe that another transfer is down?!  3 down, 14 to go!!!  I am so excited for this week.  It is going to be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to talk to you on Sunday!!!!!  

I love the work, it is incredibly hard, but I feel my Father's presence as I serve his children, and I will keep doing my best to invite others to come unto Christ!  I love the Saviour and what he has done for me.  Have a good week everyone!  Spend time with those you love, that is what really matters!   I will talk to you soon! 

Love, Elder Copeland 

(A member in the ward gave me their ticket to "Star Wars" because they know how badly I wanted to see it.  It's the thought that counts right?  haha)

Monday, December 12, 2016

Week 19 - December 12, 2016

6 more weeks in AberDREAM!

Hiya, guys!  Moves call was last night, and I am staying in Aberdeen for another transfer with Elder Carlisle!  That means that I will be 100% leaving here after this.  I am happy I didn't get moved right before Christmas.  That would have been hard.  This week was alright, not too much exciting things happened, just another week of hard work!

Tuesday:  Had our District Meeting, learned some good stuff and set good goals for our District.  Then had a few lessons with some investigators and had Ward Coordination.  Not too much. 

Wednesday:  A busy day!  Running around the city teaching and preaching on the streets haha, nothing too crazy though.  We have had a hole in our bathroom floor forever, and they finally came to fix it.  Turns out it was a massive hole underneath the floor haha, so they ripped the entire bathroom apart and re did it all.  We still don't have tile or flooring back on the ground--just a bunch of wood, but it's good they fixed it!
 (They Ripped our bathroom apart!!)
(Some random pics of Aberdeen , I love this city so much, always more places to explore, too!)
 
(Uni Library at night.  I've probably spent more time in here then the actual students haha!)

Thursday:  Another day, teaching and Gq'ing a lot.  Later in the night, we went and did the Santa Float again!  Some Good Craic! 

Friday:  Lots of teaching, we went and Gq'd down by the beach, so I took some cool pics. 

(It looks nice, but it's freezing haha!)







We got invited over to the Elders Quorum Christmas party.  We had a bunch of pizza and watched everyone play Mario Cart.  Had the Santa Float again in the night!
Saturday:  Lots of lessons, then the Santa Float! 

Sunday: Today was pretty disappointing, but it's alright.  The two people who were supposed to be getting baptized this week didn't answer a single call or text all week from us, and didn't come to church.  Looks like they gave us the slip.. I am pretty upset about it. We have worked so hard and then they just vanished like that?  UGH.  Kate came to Church though, and we have been working with her and hope she decides to get baptized before she heads back home to Kenya.  We will see!  Moves call was today, a lot of people are moving from our Zone.  I am happy not to!  I don't know my exact Christmas plans yet, but I will get that sorted and let you guys know next week! 

Monday:  Today we went with Zsolt in the morning to some more castles!  We hit Drum and Crathes Castle up!  Pretty fun!  

(Drum Castle)








 (Crathes Castle)

 (They had some Ropes course outside the castle which was closed sadly, but I still got a sweet pic with this haha!) 




We are going to go hang out with the other Elders in the area today since some of them are leaving :(  It is crazy that I am the missionary who knows Aberdeen more then everyone else cause I have been here for a while haha.  They all ask me for directions, and I feel like I have made this place my home away from home!
A pretty solid week overall.  I am a bit disappointed in people, but they have their agency, and we can only do our best to try and help them.  I hope to have a great week and work hard.  I miss you all and am thankful for the continued support and love you have shown me.  Talk to you soon!

-Elder Copeland