What a great week this was! It was honestly super busy!
We were able to have a mission conference with our mission president! President Southward and Sister Southward finish their mission this transfer, so we had an all-mission conference, where we had the whole mission, and a bunch of RM's come back for a recap of the last 3 years.
We were able to see a bunch of performances, as a bunch of the missionaries are super talented! There were some dances, including a bunch of Polynesian dances, a fire dancer, and some other dancers.
President and Sister Southward will be missed
We also performed, "I Know He Lives," which was kind of the mission anthem during quarantine last year. We didn't get time to practice with all 15 missionaries that did it, so it was a little hectic but fun. We then got to listen to Alex Boye speak, and we were a part of his movie! He filmed some scenes with us, which was fun! He spoke about knowing who you are and not being afraid to help people see who you are. He talked about the light that we can bring to people, and how it can change others. It was so cool to hear him speak! He is very enthusiastic and it was great!
We, also, got to go to the temple as a branch this week! Some youth had been baptized this past year or so, so we got to take them to the temple! We got to watch Msafiri baptize people, as well as Vincent. The funniest moment of the night was Msafiri baptizing Bikeyombe. Bikeyombe is pretty scared of water, and Msafiri didn't have much experience baptizing people, so it was kind of crazy. Msafiri would start to put him underwater, and Bikeyombe would fight against it with everything he had, which meant he didn't get under, which meant he had to do it again, and again, and again haha. He would still smile huge through the whole thing though. Eventually, Msafiri just started to let go and shove him underneath the water. It was quite the sight, but both had a great experience. It was so sweet to see our little branch together in the temple for the first time.
We, also, did a lot of finding this week, and I discovered something about myself. I have been around pretty much exclusively African people for the past year, so now I am pretty scared of white people haha. I just can't talk to them the same way I can talk to the Africans, so I get wayyyy nervous. So, when we passed people on the street, Sister John would start conversations with all of the white people, and I would run-up to and talk to literally everyone else haha. Sister John said with both of us combined, we can talk to anyone! It was a really fun time, and we actually found quite a few people this week!
Our lesson with Musa was really good this week. He is probably one of my favorite people ever. He sat down with us, we had a lesson, and then he said he had a question. So, I told him to go ahead! He then said, in "dini yenu", which means your faith, but then immediately corrected himself and said "dini yetu," which means OUR faith. So cool! He is recognizing himself as a member already! He is in a very good spot and I am super excited to see him progress! He continued with his question, which was basically, what can I do and not do? We talked about the commandments a little bit, and when we got to the Word of Wisdom, he happily agreed with everything we said but was super surprised about the tea one. I realized that he was surprised because the only tea they drink in Africa is herbal tea, so it isn't a problem. We helped explain and he understands a lot more now. He is super duper awesome and so is his family.
We also had Zone Conference this week! We had President and Sister Southward take us to a trampoline park lol, and then we had some trainings. I was able to give a training with the ZL's on the power and authority of the calling we have as missionaries. We talked about how we have been trusted with the responsibility of teaching God's children his truth and spreading light to those around us. We were only given this opportunity for a short amount of time, so we need to give our all. We showed a video of a football player who thought he could only do this exercise for 20 meters. But, when he decided to give it his all and had people cheering him on, he made it across the whole field. He was able to do so much more than he thought he could. Sometimes as missionaries, we may feel like we are not capable of what God asks us to do, but with a coach like Christ, we can do so much more than we think we can. He makes us better!
There was a new arrival this week, a lady from the Congo. She was all by herself and felt very overwhelmed, but we were able to meet her at the airport, and hopefully, we will get to see her very soon. We met her mentor, Bianca, who is super cool, and we will get to work together to help her feel like this is home!
There is a boy named Benjamin, who is the son of a member, who didn't want to get baptized when he was 8, but now, he is saying he wants to! So, we got him on date for the end of June, and we are gonna help him get ready! It's gonna be so awesome!
ALSO, 10 PEOPLE CAME TO CHURCH THIS WEEK AND IT WAS SO HYPE.
Anyway, I'm sure there was more that happened this week, but I honestly can't remember. But, here is a spiritual thought for you!
Alex Boye talked about something that he calls GODFIDENCE. It is being confident in who you are because you look at yourself at how God sees you. He told us all to close our eyes. He then said to think in our minds a rating for ourselves on a scale of 1-10. We didn't say them out loud, but we all thought of how we view ourselves. He then said that we are lying to ourselves if we gave ourselves anything lower than a 10. We are KINGS AND QUEENS. Children of God that make him feel joy. God looks at us, and through all of our flaws, sees a 10. He knows our worth, and so we should know it too. Don't let anyone else tell you that you are less worthy than what God sees you as. Know who you are, and don't be afraid to show it to the world!
Well, it was a fantastic week. I had so much fun, and though I'm exhausted, the grind feels good. It feels good to put your all into something every day, even when you don't see the results.
Thanks for tuning into another week,
See you all next time,
Sister Copeland <3
Pics of the Week:
My favorite kid ever
The cutest little acai bowl shop
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