Saturday, August 16, 2014

Third Week - August 12, 2014


Halfway done with the MTC!

Wow!  I'm already half way done with the MTC.  Time goes by so fast!!  But this week has been a good week!  It only gets better and better! 

On Wednesday, a kid in our district broke his nose and needed surgery at the hospital and had to stay there for a couple days.  I was able to go to the hospital on Thursday night to pick my companion up from watching him all day, and we gave him a blessing.  I was able to be in the circle for the first time.  It was amazing!  During the blessing, I got the chills throughout my whole body.  The spirit was so strong in that room.  Then he's been on bed rest for a few days, and I've had to watch him twice for half the day.  So I got to study quite a bit.  But with our investigators that we teach, I can now listen to a lot of what they are saying and respond to them from what I know and feel to say from the spirit.  No more using the book to say stuff.  So definitely there is progress every day with the language, but I am working so hard to get it! 

On Sunday in sacrament meeting, I was able to bless the sacrament in Spanish for the first time, so that was pretty cool.  Then after sacrament, my companion and I went to take the sacrament to some Hermanas (sister missionaries) that are sick.  So I got to bless the sacrament two times on Sunday, and I didn't mess up at all.  

Also,  on Sunday night, we had a devotional.  It was a video from a couple years ago on Christmas in the MTC by Elder David A. Bednar.  He talked a lot about the character of Christ.  It was one of the best talks I have ever heard!!  Some things that I liked are:  A mission isn´t about you, but it begins with you, and as you lose yourself serving others and obtaining Christ, you WILL find yourself.  But it doesn´t all come at once.  It takes time.  

I just finished the book Our Search For Happiness by M. Russell Ballard.  It was a great book. If you really concentrate on trying to walk the way He walked--loving, caring, serving and obeying each step of the way--one day you´ll look up and discover that His path has led you directly to the throne of God.  In the book, he tells a story of where he flew down to Mexico with 2 millionaires and a billionaire.  He could tell that they weren't truly happy.  When he got home, his wife asked him how it was and he said, "Happiness is the greatest of all riches," For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  I loved that and it is so true!  I was thinking about the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon and how they left the church, but they never denied their testimony that the Book of Mormon came forth through the gift and power of God.  Or never once did they deny seeing it all.  Those witnesses are important, but the most important witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is the witness of the Holy Ghost to YOU personally.  And I can tell you that the book is true.  It does change lives.  Read it.  Walk by faith, not by sight. 


A mission isn't about me, what I want, where I go, who I teach or anything of that matter.  It is all about turning to Christ and what He wants and needs to be done.  Alma 26:12:  "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."  That is such a powerful scripture.  I am coming to the realization that I can do this, but only with the support of you guys and my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Anyway, I hope you all have a good week, I am doing better and better each day.  

Love you all!
Elder Copeland

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