Week 44 - June 5, 2017

Hiya, Fam!  

This week was a tough one, a lot of ups and downs.  But I am thankful for the Saviour carrying me through it. 

Tuesday:  We had a pretty busy day!  Our first lesson was with Ali.  He loved church, but the only problem was is that he headed to England on Friday.  He said that he might be getting a job there, so who knows if he is coming back. :/  We had another lesson with a new guy named Adam, from Northern Ireland... that meant a bash hahahha.  Right after his bash, we walked over to the subway to meet Peong.  This man comes up to Elder Wang and I, and oh boy.  It got heated.  He begins to scream at us, saying we're forcing religion down people's throats, and starts yelling at us to punch him, and then takes some pictures of us and says he's going to get us arrested blah blah blah.  Peong watched the entire thing, and was just laughing at this dude.  He asked if that's normal?  We taught him how sometimes things like that happen, but that the wicked will always try and stop the righteous!  Later in the evening, we had another lesson with Bir and just went over some more for his baptism!  Bir is honestly one of the most amazing men I have ever met.  He is already a doctor, getting another PHD here in nutrition, and all he wants to do with his life is serve and help others all over the world.   He knows the gospel is true and he has such a strong desire to be baptized. 

Wednesday:  Pretty crazy day.  In the morning, we got to go get breakfast with Elder Rich or I guess DJ Rich now.  It was good to say bye to him and meet his fam!  After that, we did some finding.  Later, the other Elders had a baptism for their investigator Bonnie. We went with Bir to it. 

Thursday:  A pretty slow day, we taught John again.  He is renting his flat out here now to some people, so that means he won't be here on the weekends.  We got the missionaries' number in Preston though, so that means we can teach him here, and he can go to church there with the Elders, and get baptized at some point somewhere.  We had another lesson with Bir in the evening, just talked to him some more.  Lots of finding! 

Friday:  We had a lot of finding!  In the evening, we went over to Wenzhen's home for dinner with her family!  Her kids are crazy, it's hard trying to teach them about Jesus, especially since I have never taught kids on my mission haha!  But it was well!  Not much more.

Saturday:   We had a lesson in the morning with a new investigator named Sophie from Scotland!  She is so shy but enjoyed hearing about the Holy Ghost!  She wasn't able to come to church this week, but she wants to meet again!  We taught Echo another lesson as well with her son.  She had gotten Anti'd.... and decided that she didn't want to learn anymore.  That was tough.  A lot of Chinese people are scared to trust people, especially religious people.  But we just testified to her of the truth of the Book of Mormon and left her with that.  In the evening, we had another lesson with Bir and had dinner with a RC Jacen. 

Sunday:  In the morning, we were able to go to another Elder's baptism for their friend Ryan!  Afterwards, we had church.  We had five of our friends with us:  Bir, and Wenzhen's family, and two new girls named Lisa and Betty from Hong Kong!  Elder Wang met them a long time ago, but they went back to China for a while, but are here again!  It was really good to see so many people there.  In the evening, we went finding a lot and met up with Elder Reece, well Zach now and his family! 

 

 Elder Rich, Elder Oxspring, and Elder Reece :) 

They took us to get pizza and we showed them the Glasgow Cathedral!  It's great seeing friends from the mission.  I miss them a lot!

 

Monday:  We got to go with Elder Reece and his fam to another castle in the morning! (Bothwell Castle).   It was well good, and then we played some bball with the other missionaries.

So that was my week!  Obviously a lot of disappointments, but also a lot of miracles.  We are now going into a new transfer.  That means we can look back and see how we did, and also set some goals on how to be better.  It's all about improving!  I am thankful to be able to be brought low, and to be humbled.  It allows me to get down on my knees and pray to my Father to help me out.  This truly is his work, and I know that as we continue to work as hard as we can, we WILL be blessed!  I love you guys.  Have a good week, talk to you soon! :) 

Elder Copeland