Week 22 - February 24, 2020

Hello, Everyone! 

It's been a happy refreshing week.  I said goodbye to Sister Reno and said hello to my new companion, Sister Toomey! Wow!  I love her so much already.  She is exactly what I needed! 

Also, she is a trooper for having the mission field slapped in her face.  Sister Reno accidentally took our house keys, church keys, and mail keys to Jacksonville.  We did not know she had them until we were in Tally.  But it is all good. We figured out a way to get into our apartment.  Now we just have to figure out a way as to how we are going to get in our mail...our keys were sent to our mailbox....so our mail keys are currently in the mailbox lol!

We started doing service at Thomasville Baptist Church where we crochet blankets with old ladies for the FSU pregnancy center.  Before I left on my mission, I was in a low place.  Low enough that I taught myself how to crochet.  But (I am speaking to Jacob Mumford, because he always made fun of me for crocheting).  Now I am using it to bless many, many lives!  So...God really does prepare you in everyway. 

This week I've been really thinking about what I should write for my weekly and how I've been writing my weekly letters in the past.  I don't know if any of y'all know this...but my cute Grandma Laura puts together a blog for me of all my emails. Check it out sisterlaurencopeland.blogspot.com.  When I return, she will print all my emails into one big book.  I've decided I can either say everything I did from day to day or I can share what I learned.  So I'm going to continue to share what I have learned from my mission.  The day-to-day stuff doesn't really matter, it's what you take from the day to day stuff that matters.  So I'm really hoping that I can touch some of y'all in some way by sharing what I have learned from being a full-time disciple of Jesus Christ!

The new youth and primary theme this year is, "Strive to Be."

The word strive has two different definitions:

1. Devote serious energy 

2. Oppose things 

Some synonyms of the word strive are:  labor, struggle and persistent effort  

In D+C 19:23-24, Jesus Christ invites us to strive and become like him!

23 Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.

24 I am Jesus Christ; I came by the will of the Father, and I do his will.

How is Jesus Christ an example of striving to be?

- he always stopped what he was doing and paused to notice others 

- he does for others what we can not do for ourselves 

- he knows how strong we are (just like Peter when he was walking on the water)

- humble (washing his disciples feet)

How can I be like Jesus? 

I'm reflecting back on the time I learned to drive.  When I first learned to drive, I thought it was gonna be a piece of cake.  I thought that until I was actually experiencing what it felt like to drive on the freeway.  Let me just clarify to y'all...my first time driving on the freeway I cut someone off sooo bad...no joke--I was about 1 inch away.  But we are still here 

I, also, am reflecting/living the mission experience.  With three older brothers, I have six years of hearing about mission expierences.  I thought they made it sound so easy. But now I am living it, and I can assure you that it is not easy...but very rewarding. 

Everything looks easy until you are actually doing it yourself. 

We all look at the Savior and see him as a perfect, sinless human.  However, nothing came easy for him.  Being humble, loving, patient and kind did not come naturally for him.  However, he did not fall into the natural man.  He continued pressing through the hard rather than walking through the easy. 

This week I want to challenge y'all to do something hard.  Do something that when you lay down on your pillow at the end of the day, you feel accomplished.  I can promise you as you do this...you will see more Christlike habits start to immerse in you!  And you will walk beside the Savior. 

I love you all! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. 

CTR 

<3 SISTER LAUREN COPELAND 

Pics of the Week

 Cute Sister Missionaries 

Selfies in Busy Bee (Nicest gas station of your life!)

Week 21 - February 17, 2020

Another week just came and gone! 

Wow!  It was a busy week.  I must say, since I have been in this area, I have noticed a lot of change.  We got transfer news on Saturday!  I will be staying here in Tally 2 and training a new missionary and Sister Reno is headed to St. John's.  My first area!  I am so excited for her...and they are so lucky to get her.

 

Yesterday, Sister Reno and I spoke in church.  Let me say, it's a great way to invite people to come to church.  We had six people in church yesterday, and each one of them are people we are teaching.  We were asked to speak on the New Primary Theme, "I will walk with Jesus."  I loved this topic because it is so broad.  I decided to focus on how I walk with Jesus. 

One way I walk with Jesus is to be FULLY CONVERTED unto him.  In Elder Bednar’s talk, “Converted Unto the Lord,” he discussed the difference between receiving a testimony that Jesus is the Christ and becoming converted to Him and His gospel.  A testimony is personal knowledge of spiritual truth obtained by revelation, and is a gift from God available to all of His children.

We can all receive a testimony; however, are we all converted?  Conversion is “an enlarging, a deepening, and a broadening of the undergirding base of testimony.  It is the result of revelation from God, accompanied by individual repentance, obedience and diligence. . . . Conversion is an offering of self, of love, and of loyalty we give to God in gratitude for the gift of testimony” and “requires all of our heart, all of our might, and all of our mind and strength.”

Conversion is supposed to bring about a mighty change in us.  Elder Bednar states that “true conversion brings a change in one’s beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God and includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ.”

Elder Bednar continued, “A testimony is spiritual knowledge of truth obtained by the power of the Holy Ghost.  Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for righteous reasons.  Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of testimony.  Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion.  We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel.”

In making the distinction between testimony and conversion, Elder Bednar references the Lamanites who were converted unto the Lord by Ammon and his brethren.  He points out that before they could become fully converted, they had to bury their “weapons of rebellion.”  As described in Alma 23:6-8, “they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more. . . . Now, these are they who were converted unto the Lord.”  Elder Bednar asks this question, “Do you and I still possess weapons of rebellion that keep us from becoming converted unto the Lord?" 

In this last General Conference, Elder Dale G. Renlund gave a talk on our "Unwavering Commitment to Jesus Christ."  He starts off the talk by sharing a painting that is in the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple.  The picture is entitled, "Congo Falls"  which is a painting of the Congo river that leads into the Nzongo Falls. 

The waterfalls depicted in the painting called to mind a practice that was common more than a century ago among early converts to Christianity in Congo. 

Before their conversion, they worshipped objects, believing the objects had supernatural powers. After conversion, many made a pilgrimage to one of the waterfalls along the Congo River.  These converts had discarded their old traditions and accepted Jesus Christ. 

They intentionally did not throw their objects into calm, shallow waters; they threw then into churning waters of a massive waterfall, where the items would be unrecoverable. 

These people were truly walking with Jesus!  How can we lay down our weapons of rebellion  and bury them deep into the ground or throw our objects into churning waters?

By faithfully living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are walking BESIDE Jesus Christ, not ahead or behind... but beside. 

I want to invite y'all to evaluate how converted you are to walking BESIDE Jesus Christ! 

I love you all!  I love this work

<3 Sister Lauren Copeland 

Pics of the Week

 Diane

 Costco Run

Eating at Costco

 Visit to ER -  Don't worry, I'm just fine!

 Valentine's Day

 Tired girl

 Rainy Day