Sorry I´m emailing
later today, we went to the temple this morning! Too bad it was closed, but it
is a really cool temple. Crazy to think that this is my last week here in the
MTC. I think I leave next Tuesday, but I get my flight itinerary on Thursday and
I get to email you on either Saturday or Monday, so I'll let you guys know.
Nothing really happened this week. I'm ready to leave the MTC and get started.
I'm way anxious to hear where my first area is, my trainer, and all that stuff.
I'm sad that I will be missing the BYU game Friday. They better win! I'm done
giving away BYU shirts. I gave away three. My thought of it was, since I can't
convert anyone here in the MTC to the gospel, I might as well convert some BYU,
fans and I have successfully done that. ´
A couple nights ago,
we were at language study and there was a HUGE storm. When the time came to go
back to our dorm, we had to haul back because it was so wet. When we got to our
room, we found that somehow our main door was open and turned the lights on to
find at least 50 mosquitoes in our room. So Elder Kleiner and I spent the next
45 minutes swatting the mosquitoes. At least we kinda have a somewhat colorful
room with mosquito guts everywhere...
One of our teachers,
Hermano Hernandez, told us a story about when he was on his mission. I'll give
you a simplified version. One day, he and his companion had a couple baptisms,
so they drove to the church, and found a lady standing in the parking lot. They went up and asked her if she wanted to come and watch the baptism. She said
no because she was waiting for someone (she was a drug dealer). They again asked
her to come, and she said no. So they went on with the baptism and while Hermano
Hernandez was baptizing some lady, they heard four gun shots that were fired in the
chapel. Everyone started freaking out, so Hno. Hernandez and his companion told
everyone to stay in the room while they went to see what was happening.
They
were walking down the hallway, and he said he was shaking so bad. By the time
they got to the chapel, they saw four guys all with machine guns. The main guy was
about 6´3´´ and Hermano Hernandez is about 5´7´´ no more than 120 pounds. He's a
tiny guy! The main guy got all up in his face and said some choice words to
Hermano Hernandez. Hermano Hernandez asked them kindly to leave. The main guy
smacked Hernandez in the face with the hot gun barrel. (He now has a big scar
from the top of his forehead to his eyebrow from it). It knocked him to the
ground and he started crying. He said a prayer in his heart thanking Heavenly Father for his life and that he could serve as a missionary and everything.
After the prayer, he felt prompted to stand back up so he did. He was about a
foot away from this leader guy, face to face. Hermano Hernandez raised his
right hand and said, ''In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave this
building because you are not worthy to be in here and never come back,''
something along those lines. The four guys with the guns all dropped their guns
and left the building without saying a word. There's more to the story but its
hard to remember it all. I thought that was a really cool story. It shows the
Priesthood is real. You just have to be worthy to use it.
Last Tuesday, we
listened to a talk from Elder Bednar from a mission president training in 2011. t was really good. He talked about how to become a Preach My Gospel
missionary. Some things I liked were that the Spirit can only work with us
if it has something to work with, meaning we have to study and learn it first. Then the words can be put in our mouths. It doesn't just come. And we need to act
in faith before receiving a promised blessing. I need to do it the Lord's way,
not my way. And he told us multiple times that we can do this! You will have His help.
Anyway, I don't have
anything else to say. I'll be sure to e-mail you when I get my flight details.
Love you all and GO COUGS!
Elder Copeland
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