Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Week 43 - May 29, 2017

Hiya, Fam! 

Another great week here in Glasgow.  I'm staying another transfer with Elder Wang as well! Exciting stuff!  I'll go through my week though.

(An old church Elder Copeland and his companion passed by the P-Day before.)






 (The Nike Store on Buchanan Street.)

Tuesday:  We had our last District Meeting with Elder Williams.  He talked about his experiences and how grateful he is for these last two years of serving.  Pretty cool seeing missionaries leaving and how much they loved their missions.  After DM, there was a baptism for a girl named Yanis, and afterwards we had some lessons. Charles Mum said he couldn't meet with us anymore, which was pretty sad.  He was so prepared.  In addition, we sometimes meet people who want knowledge but nothing else, and sadly have to drop them.  We had Ward Council and Coordination in the evening.

Wednesday:  We had loads of lessons planned for the day, and most of them fell through..  We were able to teach RC Sandy though!  And in the evening, we went to dinner with Bir at this really good Thai place he is working at and taught him afterwards!  Because of the events in Manchester (a bomb was detonated at a concert which killed over 22 people and injured many others), we were told to no longer go into the city until President Donaldson feels it is safe again. Everyone is pretty stressed here, and a lot of police are now in the city with some big guns.

Thursday:  We had some good finding around the Uni!  We had lunch with some of the missionaries and in the evening we traveled outside of our area a wee bit to meet with Ecco and her family!  We had a great lesson and she really liked the Book Of Mormon.  We went and had dinner with some RC's and the missionaries.  Lots of hot pot haha. 

Friday:  We did some finding, and went to Chinatown with a Chinese member.  



She referred us to a Less Active family who has some kids who are over 8!  We went and met the Mum Wenzhen and she wants her kids to learn the gospel and behave better haha!  I also got to see Mannie for a minute!  He went up to Aberdeen for a job interview and was passing through the bus station here to get back to the ferry!  Glad to see he is well and happy :)  



We went to another baptism in the evening the other Elders were having.

Saturday:  We had a lesson with Ali in the morning and showed him how to get to Church for Sunday!  We did some finding and in the afternoon, I was able to baptize a girl named Helen the sisters have been teaching in the evening!  She is really cool.  We've all become great friends with her because she loves the missionaries!  I was really grateful that she asked me to baptize her and to have that opportunity.  Always a special experience.  



We got our moves call and most of Glasgow Zone is staying the same haha, Which is great! 

Sunday:  Church!  We were able to have Bir, Ali, Ecco, and Whenzen and her kids!  Elder Wang gave a great talk.  It's always great to hear his conversion story, such a legend!  After Church, Elder Woodfield grabbed me and we took some missionaries going home over to Edinburgh haha! I got to say goodbye to everyone leaving, which is a bunch of legends.  It's sad that once you get out to about a year, all the missionaries you served around in the beginning start going home!  But I am proud of all of them and thankful for their examples to me.  Unexpected drives all over the mish are good criac. 

That was my week!  Pretty busy, but we're excited for Bir!  He will be getting baptized this week, I still cannot believe how I found him, and how prepared he is.  I had no intention of stopping him, and we weren't even suppose to be over there at that time, it was unplanned.  God truly does place those who are prepared to receive the gospel in our way as long as we are working hard and doing our part!  Pray for him and all those we are teaching! 

The UK is kind of stressful right now, and a lot of people are hurting.  I am thankful for the Plan of Salvation, and the knowledge and comfort I am able to receive through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love you guys and hope you have a great week!  I can't believe it's already summer! Talk to you soon! 

Elder Copeland

Monday, May 22, 2017

Week 42 - May 22, 2017

Hiya, fam!  

Good to hear from you all.  I hit my 10 months this week, Double Digits!!  Soon enough I'll be at my year mark which is crazy.  Time is picking up!  My week was really great!

Tuesday:  We had a great District Meeting, focusing on how we can set more people with baptismal dates.  I had bought some 12£ boots from Burton the day before, and I knew they were gonna kill me.  But I broke them in anyways haha.  My feet were all blistered up and infected by the end of the day, worth it though!  The shoes are good now.  

We had a lesson with a man named Ali, who was originally Muslim, but not practicing.  We also went to lunch with Kendra again.  Afterwards we had a lesson with a Buddhist guy named Steven, not really interested.  Later in the evening, ward council and coordination!

Wednesday:  In the morning, we helped the sisters teach one of their eternagators named Yanis.  She agreed to be baptized this week.  We taught another friend named Qiming.  It went alright!  The rest of the day we GQ'd.  A member took us out to a Korean BBQ place in the evening, it was well good!

Thursday:  We had another lesson with Pong in the morning.  He is progressing really slowly, and has a lot of questions, but we will keep trying with him.  Most of the day we GQ'd.  A man named Nial who the sisters have been teaching for awhile asked me to baptize him.  I have gotten to know him and he is hilarious!  We talk about American football.  It was a great service.  He about went into the font with his phone in his pocket though!  All was well though, and I am grateful to help.
 

Friday:  Crazy busy day!!  We taught RC Sandy in the morning, went well.  Then we had three lessons fall through, so we ran all over the city for nothing.  But we GQ'd instead, and had an on the spot lesson with a man named Xinwu.  The lesson was going well, and he was feeling the Spirit, and as soon as we asked him to get baptized, something happened. He just freaked out and said no.  Satan is real.  In the evening, though, we had an amazing lesson with Bir!  He has been praying, reading, and said he would come to church! 

Saturday:  Another really busy day!  We went and got breakfast with a RC named Ciming who is going back to China.  We then had another lesson with Ali, and got him an Arab Book of Mormon.  He was happy!  We taught another Chinese man named John.  It went well, should be seeing him this week.  Then we taught a man named Charles from Italy, such a cool guy.  He loved "The Restoration," and wants to be baptized!  Only problem is, he works every Sunday.. We will try and figure that out.  In the evening, we went and got pizza with all the missionaries and Nial to celebrate his baptism. 

Sunday:  I was able to give a talk in Church.  I reviewed Elder Oaks' recent talk given at Conference.  It went well!  We were able to have Bir at church, and a member brought her friend who wants to learn about the church!  She is an older lady from Hong Kong, has three kids, and is meeting with us this week!  We are excited!!  A whole family!!  Pray for all of these people, please.  After church, we went into the city and did some finding, then weekly planned!

Well, that was my week pretty summarized!  Always busy in the city.  This week is Moves Call.  I expect to stay here, but we will see!  We have a lot of new investigators and this week we are hoping we can get them all to church!  I love you guys.  Have a great last week of school!  I can't believe it's summer already.  Talk to you soon.
Elder Copeland 

(Elder Copeland said, "The subway that we take everywhere.")
("Home!" Elder Copeland says.)

Monday, May 15, 2017

Week 41 - May 15, 2017

Hiya, Fam! 

It was INCREDIBLE to see you all yesterday and talk!  I loved every minute of it and am happy you are all doing so well!  




Today, all of the libraries in Scotland are closed down, they got hacked or something.  So we are in a wee internet cafe emailing you guys.  I don't have a ton of time but luckily we just talked!  I will go through my days for a second though!


Tuesday:  We had Scotland West over in Edinburgh!  I was able to finally see Elder Keim, my boy from the MTC!  Also, got to see some missionaries that I hadn't seen for a while.  It was great.  We received instructions on continuing to hasten the work, by extending invitations to baptism on our first lesson with investigators and helping them make commitments!  Good Criac!



Wednesday:  We had our interviews with President Donaldson.  He told me to continue to work hard, and that I am a great example of the gospel.  Always 'gushing with happiness' as he said hah.  Afterwards we taught some lessons.



Thursday,Friday,Saturday:  We had loads of lessons.  I am really sorry but I honestly have no time to talk about it all.  I will more next week when they get all the computers working again!



Sunday:  We were able to have our friend Chloe come with us to Church.  We were suppose to have three more investigators, but they all cancelled last minute.. It's okay though!  This week should be great!



I am really sorry I don't have more time.  I love you guys so much though and am thankful for the time I got to talk to you!  I will talk a lot more next week. :)  Cheers!
Elder Copeland

Monday, May 8, 2017

Week 40 - May 8, 2017

Hiya, Fam, 

Good to hear from you all :)  Glad to see you are all having fun!  Congrats Gma and Gpa on your call to Russia!!  I thought my mission was cold, but that definitely beats this!  This week was crazy!  I have never been this busy on my mission.  AND IT WAS HOT. ALL WEEK. I GOT SUNBURNT, BAD.  It's been weird only wearing white shirts out on the streets.  I notice a lot more people look at us funny haha.  But I'll go through my week now! 









 (Glasgow Zone on Preparation Day at the church.)


Tuesday:  We had our District Meeting in the morning.  I gave a devotional about being truly converted ourselves to Christ, and then helping others be converted.  It's the theme for our Mission Plan for 2017.  We had lots of finding as well.  We taught a lesson to a girl named Yahoung from China who studies theology here.  She was a bit skeptical but accepted a Book of Mormon and said she would meet again. 

Wednesday:  Pretty busy day!  We taught two Scottish girls named Kim and Evie.  We sat down with them on Glasgow campus, and this security dude came over and started questioning what we were doing here, and that we had been shoving our religion down others' throats, long story short.  We got kicked off haha.  I wasn't the happiest either, I was kind of giving him some cheek, cause cmon... How can we shove religion down someone's throat who agrees to meet and talk with us?  Ah well, we got to teach them at Starbucks.  It went well.  We later on taught a man named Pong from Thailand!  He had a lot of questions as well.  He wanted every single detail to the gospel answered pretty much, but it was still good!  We went over to a baptism the sisters were having in the evening, and we brought Kim, Pong, and Kendra to it.  Kendra bought us some Subway afterwards.
 
 

Thursday:  We had four new investigator lessons!  We taught Xiuling and her friend, Ling Tong, and Jianing.  All from China.  The lessons went really well!  In the evening we were able to go to the Elders baptism for their Chinese friend Orion!  The Protestants also had a big march in the city, pretty cool to watch.  Kind of silly though.  They march around to show everyone they're in charge or something.  Makes all the Catholics mad.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
I got destroyed by the sun today.  It felt good though!  I missed the sun!

Friday:  We taught another new investigator named Xiao.  Also, taught Yahong again, and did loads more finding in the city.  In the evening, a member in the ward named Sister Barnshall took us and the sisters to a Carvery, I ate wayyy too much food haha.  
 
 
 
I got fried some more as well.  My hair looks like I bleached it because it's so blonde and my skin looks like a tomato

Saturday:  We had a really cool lesson with a man named Bir I found from Thailand.  He pretty much GQ'd me, and we met up and he was asking when he could be baptized!  We set him with a date for the 27th after his exams.  We, also, taught Pong again, and in the evening, we went with the sisters and helped them teach their Chinese investigator getting baptized this week!  Good Criac.
 
 
 
Sunday:  We were able to have Yahoung and Jianing come to church!  We were hoping for four at church, but it's okay!  This week we should have a lot coming!  It was great.  Later in the evening, all the city Elders met together to have a bbq and finish our fasts!  Did some more finding and planning for our week ahead.  
 
 
 
 

Well, that was my week!  I don't have enough time to write lots of details about it all.  I'm sorry!  But I'm excited to talk to you all on Sunday :)  Have a great week and I will SEE you soon. 😇
 
Elder Copeland

Monday, May 1, 2017

Week 39 - May 1, 2017

Hiya, Fam! 

Another great week here in Glasgow, the sun's been out every day and I'm getting some color back into my skin which is nice haha.  This city is flippen busy!  Always something or someone exciting happening around us.  I'll go through my week now!

Monday:  After we emailed, we went with the Zone Leaders up to Loch Lomond.  We found an old biker helmet and shot it with some paintballs and slingshots, good times haha.  There was another cool castle there as well!  
 
Every Monday evening, an older couple in the ward has a FHE for all Recent Converts and Investigators and Missionaries.  It's a lot of fun.  A spiritual message, some food, and some games to just get to know each other better! 

Tuesday:  We had our District Meeting and then exchanges with the YSA Elders.  I went with Elder Charleworth, absolute lad.  We are really similar to each other, so we had loads of fun GQ'ing and making people laugh.  It always helps to enjoy the work, and I always see more success and I am happy and laughing and making others, as well.  We got invited to go with the Kelvinside Elders and a guy named Tu to get some Taiwanese dinner.  We took some cool pics around the city after as well.






Wednesday:  We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders!  I went with Elder Ward who trained Elder Nelson, so I already knew all about him and I love him haha.   We just went finding all day in the city and had two lessons in the evening.  We taught Grand from Africa, who has been coming to church for years, just her boyfriend won't get married so she can't get baptized yet.  We also taught Valentino from Italy.  He was loving that I had been there and knew all the different places! 

Thursday:  We had another full day of finding.  I had ran into a less-active named Kendra from Utah the week before, and she invited us for dinner.  She is really cool, went to BYU, and does graphic designs.  

But anyways, she took us to this American-style burger place, and we were just talking to her, and a rap came on that I knew so I started to sing along, and we got talking about different rap artists and what not, and I asked her if she had ever heard of James The Mormon?  Turns out, SHE DATED HIM, AND THEY ARE STILL GOOD FRIENDS. WHAT.  So I asked her if she had his number?!?  She did, and I asked her to text him and tell him the Elders wanted to talk to him.  HE CALLED US AND WE FACETIMED. AHHH FLIPPP.  He talked to us for awhile, just asking about our missions and stuff, and he speaks Chinese!  So Elder Wang was able to talk to him as well, it was incredible.  Ah man, Highlight of the mish right there.  Talking to James The Mormon on my months!  I got some pics :D
 
Friday: We had another day of finding.  We were able to teach a German girl named Katrin I had found at the uni.  She was nice and enjoyed learning, but no interest in progressing.  In the evening, the Glasgow Ward held an International night where everyone made food from all of their different countries.  Chinese Hot Pot might be one of my favorite meals now. It was good to get to know the ward a wee bit better and make more friends!

Saturday:  We had another lesson with Selina.  The week before a baptism is the most stressful time as a missionary, because Satan goes buck wild.  Selina told us how she doesn't want to be baptized anymore, that she doesn't want to keep feeling that peace she had felt at church, and that she is fine accepting the Telestial Kingdom after she dies.  I was completely shocked.  I have never heard anyone say that.  We were both pretty disappointed, but that just means there are more prepared people out there to find! 

Sunday:  We were able to have two investigators come with us to church--Kendra's sort of Scottish Bf and a Chinese girl!  I FELL ASLEEP IN GOSPEL PRINCIPLES AH MAN.  Since I don't understand a single word of what's going on, I just kind of dosed off, and I was out hard.  The Chinese people were dying when I woke up.  It was funny.  After Church, we just did some more finding in the city and weekly planned.

All in all a pretty good week!  Lots of finding to build our teaching pool.  It kind of feels like I white washed in again, because we had no one when I got here, but that's okay!  I am loving Glasgow, being around a bunch of missionaries in a massive city is great.  

(University of Glasgow; the Elders GQ right outside the University.)



I can't wait to talk to you guys soon.  I love you have a great week! ðŸ˜‡
Elder Copeland 
 


Monday:  After we e-mailed yesterday, we went over to the church for our Zone BBQ.  It was good fun. 



Then later in the evening Elder Wang took me to this little Chinese place for dinner where a RC works. It's the real deal, not a single person in there was white but me, and the food is way better then our American Chinese!