What's up, everyone! This week was a long one. We started the week with a tropical storm that unexpectedly blew in--caused us to lose power and water for about a day. The high winds tore up a lot of the roofs here and caused some flooding in our house, but what can you do about it lol.
Teaching this week was very tough. We had about 10+ appointments every day to either visit less-actives or continue teaching lessons but not a single one happened. We spent every day walking hours back and forth across the city and area trying to find anyone that would listen but had no luck.
The family we had taught last week had a very busy schedule this week and are still interested, which is good. They had begun to read the Book Of Mormon which is a huge step towards baptism, so we are very excited about them. We also had our first in-person investigator this week come to church. She is an older lady named Rosa who we have been teaching over the phone because of how spread out our area is. The members at church did a very good job of welcoming her and made her feel right at home! It was such a rewarding feeling to see her enjoy being a part of the church family and motivates me that much more to continue helping people. If everything goes right this week, we hope to baptize her this Sunday!
Today we had multi-zona conference in Porto Alegre which is about a 2 hour bus ride away. We arrived late last night with two other Elders from our district and due to the lack of funds us missionaries have, we needed a place to eat lol. One of the guys called a member couple he knew and explained the situation and without hesitation, they invited us over and began cooking. Seeing how happy it made these people to have missionaries in their home was so genuine. It made me so happy to be with them and was a great example of spreading the love of Christ.
This week I made it a goal of mine to really lock in on the language and give it all I have. I said many prayers and asked for the Spirit to be with me throughout the week. It was amazing to see how much I actually know when my mind is at peace. Learning a language takes absolutely all you have and without the help of God we are nothing. I took a huge leap this week and am that much closer to being fluent.
Throughout the week, I caught myself complaining about the lack of success we were having and it made me so mad that I was thinking like that. Despite not having the greatest week, I realized the worst thing we can do in our life is complain and feel sorry for ourselves. Those are the two things that will completely derail growth. The second we have a bad attitude, we lose track of the big picture. Yes, we didn't have the best week with teaching, but at the end of the day I am doing the work of the Lord and happy to be serving a mission. The salvation of souls isn't easy. Satan and the opposition are working hard against the good of Christ. Continue to trust in God and submit your will to him. Through the faith we have in him, we will be blessed beyond words!
Elder Copeland
