Twelfth Week - October 13, 2014

Well, I made it through my first change, halfway done with training! 

This week was good, but hard as ever.  It has been hard for me to adjust to living here, but I'm getting used to it more and more every day.  The only thing really holding me up with the language is my patriarchal blessing.  It talks a lot about the gift of tongues.  So all I can do is keep trying my hardest and know that the best will happen for me.

Well, just a little about some investigators.  Juan Ramon is a guy in like his 50s.  He lives alone and sells gas tanks for a living.  He sells about 3 or 4 a week and makes 5 Cordobas each one he sells, and in US dollars 5 cordobas is like 25 cents.  One US dollar is 26 cordobas, so he makes literally nothing.  I don't know how they do it, but he's getting baptized on the 25th.  He's a little different, but he always completes his commitments.  The week before conference was his first time in church and we were late cause we had to go pick up other investigators.   On Saturday night, we told him we would come pick him up before church and he said "No, I can go myself because I don't want to be late!  He's a stud.  And Junior, the kid that got stabbed, it's all infected pretty bad, but he's a good kid and will be baptized.

A couple days ago, I was with Elder Bennett and we went to the crappiest house I have ever been in, in my life, made of wood scraps and metal scrap roof...  We taught a 19 year old and in this house was like a mosquito farm--so many mosquitoes!  In one hour, I got literally like 50 on my shins and ankles!!  And on Sunday, there was this lady just giving everyone pills, and she told me to come over.  She gave me 3 pills, I think she said they were for bugs in your stomach or something?  I said thanks and walked away.  I definitely threw those away!  Who knows what they were, but that's Nicaragua.  

 (Elder Copeland's mosquito-bitten ankle, plus the pills to the left that the woman gave him.)

Last night, some guy that was really high came up to me and who knows what he was saying, calling me ELDER and was hugging me.  He was in a completely different world.  I was talking to him just having a good time. 

I know I have said this, but we are soooo blessed to have what we have.  I always took it for granted, but I have learned from that big time.  This is insanely hard.  Walking basically on the sun, showering in sweat, doors slammed, people don't want to talk or listen, but I am a little persistent with them.  I try my hardest and do what I can.  All I can do is my part, I can't force them to listen to us.  I'm just trying to look at the big picture in 2 years of what I will be and what I want to be, but in order to be that person, I need to sacrifice 2 years of my life to then.  Well, I don't have any more time, time to get to work...  Hope you are all doing well, please pray for the people of Nicaragua.   They need help.

Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve,

Elder Copeland

(The picture is of today, we went to the lake and played soccer.)