Week 54 - May 22, 2023

Wow, a week full of miracles!!  Let me just say GOD IS GOOD and I feel so so blessed to be His instrument here in Spotlyvania. ♡  Let me give y'all the run down on our friends and how they are doing.

☆ ROSETTA!!  We had the most amazing lesson and Spirit-filled lesson of my life.  She was telling us how she feels like it's too late for her to change, so we read the Parable of the Laborers in the vineyard, and let's just say "Come Follow Me" knew what to prepare us for!!  A member friend got to join us, and we invited her to be baptized on June 3 and she accepted!!!  Everyone continue to pray for her please, I love this woman with my whole heart!! 

☆VALERY!  OK, so Valery is a girl we met a couple weeks ago that's around our age, and she's been looking, for a church her whole life that believes in God, Jesus Christ and the Spirit as three separate beings.  So, when we told her that's what we believe, she was thrilled and finally felt like she found her new home.  She and her family joined us at church yesterday!!  She is on date to be baptized in June.  Pray for her!!! 

☆JOHNNY!!  Okay this was insane.  So, a member in our ward's dad is in town and he was at Costco just eating a hot dog and went and sat by Johnny.  Well, he taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon.  Then he called us and we set up a time to meet and HOLY, the Spirit was so strong and he was interested and expressed that he's been wanting to make changes in his life and knew he's at the perfect place to start. 

I know that the Lord is providing so many miracles for us and magnifying our efforts!!  Thank you for all the prayers, WE ARE FEELING THEM!  We also got to go on exchanges, and I learned so much from Sister Jones and Hermana Cotton!! They're the best and another miracle was the fact I got to have a sleep-over with Sister Fry.  I miss her so much! 

For my spiritual thought today, I'll share some of what I shared to the Chancelor Ward yesterday in sacrament! 

This week, I read Mark 6 and it had a huge impact on me!

Mark 6:36-42

"Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?  He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.  And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled."

The disciples looked at Jesus and said they only could find five loaves of bread and two fishes.  That was everything they could offer him.  But the Lord multiplied and magnified their offering because they were WILLING to sacrifice some time, money, and food to the work of the Lord.  I love this quote by Elder Cornish, "The disciples gave the Savior what they had. The Savior blessed and multiplied what the disciples were able to provide, miraculously meeting and surpassing what was needed. This sequence mirrors a pattern in our relationship with the Savior. On our own, we fall far short of the perfection and glory of God. When we offer our whole souls to the Savior, the abundant power and grace of His atonement will more than compensate for our shortcomings. The Lord provided all five thousand to eat from five loaves of bread and two fishes and they were all filled.  We will be filled and so will others as we give what we have been so freely given, the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the best thing we can give by word or deed." 

I invite you all to give what you've been given and always follow promptings of the Spirit!!!  Love and miss you all BIG TIME

#CTR

-SISTER HANNAH COPELAND 

Ps I'm the most tired I've ever been in my whole life, so the Lord is enabling me to have strength and I love Him for it. 

Week 53 - May 15, 2023

Well, let's just say a week of weird moments haha!  I don't know if I've said this before but on my mission, I get told I have an accent almost once a month.  This week I got told I'm from Scotland, Australia, Ukraine, Romania, England, and many more.  When I told them I'm from Utah, they seemed to be pretty disappointed that they didn't guess it right and were shocked.  But safe to say my voice is very distinct 🤝

Also, I am so happy I got to talk to my beautiful momma yesterday for Mother's Day!  I love her with my whole soul, and she's been there for me through IT ALL!  AND SHE HAS MY BACK!  I couldn't be more grateful for a mother who wants the world for me! 

We had some fun fun fun experiences this week!  I don't think I've told all y'all about Rosetta, so here I am!  Rosetta is my favorite person that we are teaching and has been since the day I got here.  Our first lesson with her, I walked in and introduced myself and she just looked at me and told me she already knew me and has seen me before and knew I was coming.  That to me was a testimony builder and I knew God needed me to help be an instrument in her life.  From that first lesson to now, she has made tremendous change in her life. As soon as she started to read the Book of Mormon, her heart became soft and her love grew.  She loves the Book of Mormon and says she wishes she had it her whole life because it's helped her so much.  We always struggled getting her to church though, she felt like she didn't belong there but this week she had a change of heart and decided to come with us to church!  Our member friend picked her up and she came, and everyone LOVED HER!  When we were leaving, I asked her how she liked it and she said, "Oh baby girl, I think I've found my new home."  PUREST JOY AND TEARS!!  I love Rosetta and her love for the Savior!  I'm so happy she feels at home and knows this is exactly where God wants her to be.  If everyone could keep her in your prayers it would mean everything to me!

Also, the cutest Liam Prete just turned 8 and had his baptism this week!  We went to dinner, and he looked at me and told me he was bringing non-member friends and said, "Can you speak at my baptism so they can know what missionaries are and you can teach them?"  IT was so precious!!!  Love the kid and his family.  I felt honored to speak at his baptism and meet all his cool friends!!! 

So many good things happened this week!! 

♡I got to go on exchanges with Hermana Jolley, she's from Orem UT and she's being trained by Hermana Barlow, so it was so fun to spend some time with them. 

♡we had Zone Conference and I had to conduct!  But got to see my besties 

♡ Gin and Ken came and saw us for Gin's birthday and Gin made me a stained glass of the tree of life!!  I'm so lucky to know her. 

♡finally got to the doctor for my back and I'm so happy about it!!! 

So much good in this work and I couldn't be happier to be a part of it. 

My spiritual thought this week is for all you moms!!  The stripling warriors couldn't have fought without their moms, and I get it!  I couldn't do this without the support of my mom, she's taught me everything I know and has helped me endure the hard times.  So, like them I also remember the words my mother has spoken to me to keep me going!  I invite y'all to think of what your moms have taught you!!

Alma 56: 47-48

"Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

Love y'all!! 

-SISTER HANNAH COPELAND 

Week 52 - May 8, 2023

 Just wanted to start off by saying thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday!!!!  I felt all the love in the world.  I have to admit it was my absolute favorite birthday ever.  I got to wear my Savior's name!!  And the most amazing family, the Camps spoiled me to make me feel right at home!  So did my cute companion and family!!  I have the greatest people in my life all thanks to my Heavenly Father who knows who I need 🤍.

Not only did I turn 20, it was my favorite week of my mission and I HIT ONE YEAR TOMORROW!!  WHAT!! 

This week so much good happened!  We had MLC, lots of finding, and even more lessons!  

And the most incredible--THE RICHMOND TEMPLE WAS DEDICATED!!  God is so good, and the Lord's hand has been so evident this last week. 

President Oaks was able to come and dedicate the Richmond Virginia temple, and it was such a neat experience to be a part of.  Plus, seeing all the people get so excited so they can start doing the work for our ancestors on the other side of the veil was an honor to see!

President Oaks made a comment to us missionaries and he said, "Missionaries, you don't convert people to the church, you convert them to the Lord," and I loved that so much.  It was powerful!!  It's so true, even for myself I know I've been converted to the Lord! 

I don't have much time today but just wanted to thank you and say that I love this work with everything in me.  I wish I could tell y'all every detail, but I love my Savior Jesus Christ!!

Hope all is well:) I love updates and I love mail💌 :)

10202 Hyde Park Drive, Apt 205, Spotlyvania, VA 22553 

-SISTER HANNAH COPELAND 

Week 51 - May 1, 2023

Let me just say, Jesus Christ is changing me, my thoughts, my nature, all of me and man I love Him for it!!  I've really been able to see a lot of change this week as I've called upon Him through his enabling power.  The Savior strengthens, uplifts, and mostly changes us!  I've come to know him more clearly by learning of Him and inviting Him more into my life!!!  I love this quote by Elder Holland, "Come as you are but don't expect to stay as you are. The Lord loves you too much not to change you."  I'm feeling the Lord's love as I'm being changed and learning how to handle hard!

 

It's already the end of another transfer, time is flying but thank goodness me and Sister Holt will be staying in Spotlyvania together!  Also, received the best news, Sister Fry and Hermana Barlow are coming into the Fredricksburg Zone so I can go on exchanges with them!🥳 Sister Fry is going to my 2nd home, aka Culpeper, and man they're just going to love that girl with everything like I do! 

I had the coolest experience this week.  I got to go on exchanges this week with MEGAN BENSON!  We have gone to all 3 years of school together, we always knew of each other and talked and occasionally hung out.  We got in the car and just started to laugh as we said, "We are in Virginia right now doing the Lord's work.  Who can say that they have done missionary work together like this?"  IT WAS LIKE A FULL CIRCLE!  It was amazing and so is she.  I look up to that woman, her diligence and her love for God.  She is such an example to me and everyone here, and I know so many people at home feel the same way about her.  She is going home next week and I'm so sad!  But so excited for her, she's got so much ahead of her, God definitely has big plans for her.  

I learned so much from her and we were able to be effective instruments in the Lord's work as we tried to take the invitation of the Perfect Leader (I'll attack link below), but we read this talk before our exchange and holy I could say so much but I want y'all to experience it for yourself.  I will say 3 Nephi perfectly sums up how our Savior is the perfect Leader. 

I also had the opportunity to take Hermana Oler on an exchange!  She's from Wyoming and she is incredible!  We had such a good time together and getting to know each other! 

I love exchanges because you get to see and understand more of God's children and the gifts that he gives them.  It's a perfect time to learn from someone and to see how they do missionary work so you can always be growing and wanting to change! 

I do have to say, we have the most amazing wards: Spotlyvania and Chancellor with people who are so willing and wanting to help us and missionary efforts.  I love that no matter where you go in the world the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes you family immediately! 

Even when the work is not going the way I want or expected, I'm learning more of who I need to be and become.  The mission has helped me see other people be changed but mostly myself.  I can't get frustrated with things because I'm not in control of this work, He is!  He's going before us daily and I can feel his hand guiding us and helping us as we do everything we can to share His word!

Lastly, I have a spiritual thought I'll share quickly, 

D&C 6:13-15

"If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time. Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth;"

This is when the Lord is telling Oliver Cowdry that he wasn't just curious about what we had heard about Joseph Smith, he was being guided by the Spirit not knowing beforehand what the Spirit would teach and lead him to do. 

Just like Nephi who didn't understand why he had to go back to Jerusalem, but he followed the direction he received, and the Spirit guided him and taught him and his family many lessons.  They were also learning by trial and by confusion. 

1 Nephi 4:6 

"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."

This is saying that the Spirit is our teacher and sometimes we don't understand or even know that it's the Spirit.  But when we look back, we can see the Spirit is ALWAYS with us as we live worthy of it.  The Spirit is ALWAYS teaching us.  We are ALWAYS living in personal revelation because the Spirit is our constant companion.  It can be hard because sometimes I want this huge experience like Alma the younger and have an angel appear and just tell me where to go and what to do, but we know that the Spirit is a still small voice!

1 Kings 19:11-12

"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:  And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." 

I know His voice is still and small and it always leads me to do good. Because He is everything good that this world can have. I invite you to remember the verse from D&C 6:13 if you are doing good and being faithful you will be blessed and remember to keep going when it's hard and rely on Him!  He will enable you through the Atonement, I promise!!  Every good thing comes from Him! 

I love you all!!  Sorry this is so long♡♡

#CTR

-SISTER HANNAH COPELAND 

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/mark-a-bragg/a-master-class-in-leadership-one-day-with-the-savior/