Week 82 - February 26, 2018

Thankful to be a Missionary!  19 Months!

Hiya, Fam, it was a busy week, but a good one.  I thought I would just express how grateful I am to be a missionary right now.  I hit 19 months this week, and it really is beginning to hit me how soon my mission will be over.  I am grateful for all that I have learned, am learning, and will continue to learn while I am here.  Heavenly Father has blessed me with this opportunity, and I strive to make the most out of it before it's finished! 

Tuesday:  We attended some District Meetings, and did some role plays on JSH.  After Dm's, we helped drop off Elders at bus stations and rushed over to Edinburgh!  We were able to discuss more with President Donaldson, as well as the Glasgow Bishop, about the plans for the missionaries here.  I love watching President work.  He is powerful in his teaching and leading.  He made some E moves to the Glasgow Zone to fit the new needs of the boundaries.  We had to rush back to Glasgow and take some Elders moving to the stations!  After all that, we were able to teach a new guy named Ahmaed, and we should be seeing him again this week. 

Wednesday: We GQ'd and taught Sofia, Mark, and Herman, some new friends! Also had a meeting with the Bishop in the evening to go over more of the vision for the new Glasgow ward and where the missionaries can fit into it all! It's a transition for the ward as well as the missionaries and everyone wants it to be smooth!

Thursday:  We GQ'd, then taught Talal, Peter, Rafael, and Shona!  I went to Peter and his family with Elder Huang.  He is doing amazing.  His goal is to go to the temple again with his family and be sealed this year.  When he said that, I had tears in my eyes.  What an amazing convert to the gospel.  I am excited to see his family continually progress!  We drove to Edinburgh again in the evening.

Friday:  We were on exchanges with the AP's for two days.  I was with Elder Wright.  We taught some of his friends, and also had a really cool on the spot with a girl I found!  In the evening, we went over and had a Hot Pot with some of my RC's.  AHH, I miss them!  It was great to be with them and catch up for a wee bit. 

Saturday:  Loads of finding as well as some lessons!  Cool story.  Last transfer, I was with Elder Gibb on exchanges in Edinburgh.  The very last guy I talked to was a man named Peter.  I didn't think much of it, but I got his number and set up a time for Elder Gibb and Wright to see him the next week.  Long story short, he met that next week, and has continued to meet, reading the entire Book of Mormon, and will be being baptized this week!  WOOO!  That was amazing when I heard all of that.  Sadly, I didn't get to see him, but I hope to next time.  You never know how big or small your efforts may be, who they will affect! 

Sunday:  We had four of our friends at church!  It's a proper big ward now, which is exciting.  After church, we went over to Grands, and did some GQ'ing!

We were asked to give a 2-hour instruction tomorrow at Scotland-South Conference, so we gotta plan that.  I am excited!  This week, we will be able to work more in our area as well, so we should see some results!  Thankful to each of you for all your love and support.  Have a great week! 💚

Elder Copeland

Week 81 - February 19, 2018

I GOT FREE YEEZYS!

Hiya, Fam!  Not a lot of time today, so I will go through the week now.

Tuesday:  All of the Sisters in the SIM went to Edinburgh for a Sisters' Conference where they played games and did yoga haha, so all the Elders in our Zone had a big District Meeting. We talked more about the power of the Book of Mormon in our finding and teaching and did some role-plays.  Afterwards, Elder Pelham and I GQ'd for the day, and we went and visited Grand!

Wednesday:  We had some lessons planned that fell through, but we were able to see Peong.  He was doing good.  He had read the Book Of Mormon, but then he said he doesn't care to know if it's true and he is fine being wrong if he dies..... Well... we were walking out of his home and he had some shoes holding the door open.  I asked them what they were.  He said he had no idea.  His flatmate left them with him when he went home to Thailand and he had only worn them twice.  I asked him I could try them on and told him I think they are the new Yeezy 350s.  He said go ahead.  I put them on and they fit perfectly.  He said to keep them... WHAT!!!  I was flipping out.  These are $800 shoes and they are pretty much brand new.  I told him there is no way.  They are worth so much, and he said, "No, I don't care, I wouldn't have known their value anyways, and I don't wear them." AHHH!!  So we sadly had one investigator dropped, but happily one pair of Yeezys gained today haha! 😁

Thursday:  Today we were on exchanges with Elder Swenson and Elder Huang.  I was with Huang, and it was Chinese New Years!!  We were able to GQ quite a lot, and met up with all the Chinese RC's for lunch and a Hot Pot in the evening.  It was a good day.  I love Huang and miss him!

Friday:  We GQ'd most of the day and had two new investigator lessons.  We met up with most of the Elders in the city and had a nice dinner as well, and some of the Elders decided to box, which was buck wild!  I was laughing my head off during it haha.

Saturday:  We had loads of lessons set up, and most flaked.. Frustrating!  In a big city, you can set up so many qualified appointments, but then people don't show!  We were able to teach a guy named Solomon from Nigeria who is pretty solid though!  I snapped a pic of Celtic Stadium on the drive back.

Sunday:  We had three of our friends at church today, Fernando, Rex, and Eric!  I was asked to give a talk for Sunday, so I had prepared all of my notes and scriptures and we show up to church and all the Stake Presidency is there, and they say I will not be giving my talk because there is a special announcement.  I was chillin' with that!  The big announcement is that the Springboig and Glasgow Ward will now be combined as one, which means we now have 16 missionaries in our ward.  That is the biggest on the mission! We got a call from President who asked us if we can go into his office today and discuss the changes for the missionaries and the Zone, so we are heading to Edinburgh soon!  We will see what happens.  That was pretty wild.  After church, we taught Fernando more, and GQ'd!

This week should be really busy.  We will have quite a few exchanges, but I am excited!  We just need to find some new solid people for March to be baptized and progress the ones we already have!  I love you all and hope you have a great week!  Elder Copeland

Week 80 - February 12, 2018

Good to be back in Glasgow!

Hiya, fam, it's been a busy week!  I am pretty chuffed to be back in Glasgow and for the Zone we have.  We have some high expectations for our area and for our missionaries!  We are going to celebrate Chinese New Year today with our friends, so it should be well good.

Tuesday:  We helped move missionaries around.  Glasgow is kind of the central point for all missionaries in Scotland moving, as well as missionaries coming from the ferry in Ireland, so we have to move a lot of people!  In the evening, we planned for our Zone what we want to achieve in this transfer with the STL's, and the new one is Sister Irving here! So we are back in the same area, which is fun haha.  She is a legend and we have a good time!

Wednesday:  We GQ'd a bit back at the uni!  Then we taught some of the friends Elder Pelham has been working with.  We taught Sofia, Shona, Neil, Rafael, and Joe.  Yep, back to teaching and being a lot busier!  It's actually cold in Glasgow right now though, and it snowed a few days this week!

Thursday:  Today we traveled to Edinburgh for MLC.  It was amazing.  President emphasized about giving Joseph voice in our Restoration lesson, and showed us a new way to teach it that brings the Spirit in powerfully.  We tried to use it more in our lessons this week and it worked well.  That took up the majority of the day.  On the drive home, we stopped at Anne's and had dinner though.  She is the best :) 

Friday:  We had our Zone Leadership Conference in the morning and presented our plans to the District leaders.  It went really well.  There are some really experienced missionaries here who have the potential to lead this mission with their examples.  It's fun seeing a lot of my comps every day as well and some missionaries I get along with.  So pumped for this transfer!  After ZLC, we taught Mandy, and then traveled to Dumbarton to do an interview. 

Saturday:  We had to help E-move some missionaries, and then we GQ'd.  Later on, we taught a new guy named Daniel. Some crazy Italian girl started yelling at us in Italenglish.  That was interesting.  In the evening, we took our friend Rafael to Stake Conference and he loved it!  We hope to be able to progress him more this week.

Sunday:  Today was Stake Conference, and we were able to have our friend Shona come with us!  It was great seeing all of my old friends, and Peter and his family were there.  Ahh, I gave him the biggest hug!  He is a legend!  He gave a talk last Stake Conference in Chinese and a missionary translated it.  

 Stake Conference in Glasgow

After Stake conference, we GQ'd and we met up with Peong, who I taught before!!  He forgot most of what he learned, and I am not sure what happened after I left, but we are going to re-teach him.  I also called Bir.  I will hopefully see him next week.  He is in Edinburgh right now for some research!

I love you all and hope you have a great week.  We are going to focus on progressing our friends and allowing the Spirit to direct their decisions, so please pray for them to be open and intent on receiving the truth 🍀  Elder Copeland

Week 79 - February 5, 2018

Back to Glasgow!

Hiya, fam.  I have been up since 4 am and we still have to move a load of people around, so this week's gonna be a short email.  But I have been moved!  I am back in Glasgow as a Zone Leader serving with Elder Pelham from Brighton. Elder Swenson is now going to be a District Leader in Glasgow as well, and he will be with Elder Huang!!  This Zone is flippen stacked.  I am so excited!  I will go through the week shortly though, and I forgot my camera.  We were throwing the suitcases all over and left it with them, so loads of pics next week!

Tuesday:  We had a busy day.  We were able to teach Mannie, Jess, a new girl from France named Rebecka, and had dinner at the Waby's!

Wednesday:  We GQ'd quite a lot, had lunch with a member, taught Scott, GQ'd more, and had dinner with the Merrils! 

Thursday:  We taught Alice, GQ'd all day, then taught Scott again in the evening.

Friday:  GQ'd, taught Jess and prepared her for her baptism, had dinner at Sis. Milnes, taught Scott again, and then went over to Matt's church and hung out with some uni students!

Saturday:  We were able to have Jessica's baptism, the sisters had a baptism as well..  YES!!!  Ahh, so much relief.  We were stressing hard haha.  It was amazing.  Jess did so well, and she was really feeling the spirit.  Mannie gave a great talk at the baptism, as well.  

Afterwards, we GQ'd, got our moves call, and attended another baptism the BOD sisters had. 

Sunday:  Had Jessica's confirmation, and a good Fast and Testimony Meeting.  Afterwards, we got to go over to the Dressels and I saw NANA.  AHH, I MISSED HER! 

It was good to see them all.  We moves planned most of the day and went over to the Zimmerman's in the evening for dinner, then started packing.

So that was the week real brief.  This transfer ahead is going to be exciting.  Thank you for all the prayers and support for our friends.  My foot is doing alright, but it hurts pretty bad at the end of each day.  I need to be more careful.  I love you guys though, and I will talk more to you soon!  Elder Copeland