A Faith Super Hero

Another awesome week in paradise. Its warming up. The lake is rising. Trees are blossoming.

Not too much to report this week. Nothing terribly interesting. But we did have a pretty cool experience at the beginning of the week. We have a goal for what are called OYM's - Open Your Mouths. It’s the number of people we talk to about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. So Tuesday we were a few OYM's short of what we needed and we had about 15 minutes before we met someone at the church and we decided to go knock some doors really quick. So in about 5 minutes, we knocked 5 doors, and got 5 OYMS, just what we needed. Its great seeing the blessings for diligence that come from the Lord.

Also, I don't remember if I mentioned this past week but we got transfer calls and I've got another six weeks here in Chelan! Apparently the population goes from about 4,000 to 24,000 from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Sounds like a party.

So not much else has happened that’s worthy to report. But here's the quote of the week from a conversation with a recent convert. We had asked him what he thought the Holy Ghost was and this was his reply:

"The Holy Ghost is like a faith super hero."

Deep stuff man.

Hope everyone has a great week! Talk to you next week!

Elder Kupferer

Another Week

We had another awesome week this week. On Monday April 14, we had gone down to Wenatchee with the intentions of going to this place called Ohme Gardens (it was supposed to be some man-made garden thing that’s like super beautiful or something like that). So we drive the hour down to Wenatchee only to find a sign in front of the Gardens that says "Opening April 15th"....... So instead we ended up going down the freeway to this place called Leavenworth. It was pretty cool. It’s this tourist town where everything looks German. All the signs. All the buildings. All the stores. It’s a complete tourist trap but it was fun to walk around and try some of the food.

Also worth mentioning, our ward up here had their Pinewood Derby this past Saturday. I forgot how intense the parents can be sometimes with their kid’s racecars... but it was really cool though (story time!). On Wednesday we had gone to the church with the rest of the youth with intentions of making our own racecar and getting some to give to other investigators. We ended up not making one but still received one to give to a family we had in mind. On Thursday we ran into a mom and her son who was looking for something to do that weekend. We said hey! We've got just the thing! So on Friday we stop by to give him the car and then Saturday evening we stop by to pick him up and take him to the Pinewood Derby. Apparently he was really good friends with some of the youth his age who asked him to come sit with them. It was a pretty cool night.

I would also like to note that we had 7 investigators come to church yesterday. 5 that the Sisters in the area are teaching and 2 of our own. Gotta love Easter! Speaking of Easter..... you should all go here:

easter.mormon.org

Don't ask questions. Just do it. Then share it with everyone you know. It’s a great site that talks about what we can do Because of Him.

So for the quote this week, it comes from a conversation we had with one of our zone leaders after district meeting the other week. It’s a little bit longer so there will be some paraphrasing but the general gist of it is the same:

"Mission life is the best. Where else do you get tons of free food, a magical little card that has $135 on it every month, free gas money, and you can wake up knowing that even if you fail, as long as you try your best you're still successful?"

Well I hope you all had a great Easter commemorating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know I did!

Until next week!

Elder Kupferer

I Forgot How Much I Hate the Heat!

So this week it got up to a nice and balmy 71 degrees outside. Not gonna lie, it felt like I was gonna die. Definitely not looking forward to summer.

This week I also got like my two favorite foods mashed together - home made burgers and Korean barbecue. It was so good. It was like is this a hamburger that’s made of Korean barbecue, or Korean barbecue that’s made into a hamburger? Of course, my companion and the two sisters, all not being from Irvine, had no idea what Korean barbecue was but they now know what they are missing.

And this week for the "How stupid can Elder Kupferer get?" category, apparently you need a fishing license to go fishing up here. Who knew? Not us. Good thing the member we were with knows the game warden.......

Now for an awesome story. My first day tracting (knocking doors, sharing messages about Jesus Christ) here in this area many months ago didn't yield many results. There were a few people that said we could come back by, but not many. One of whom we shall call Jerry (not actually his name). So Jerry was like yeah come back any time! So we did, but for one reason or another we didn't get in to talk with him for over a month. But anyways we get in and get to talking. He had just moved back to Chelan, but said he had been meeting with the missionaries for several years, and they had helped him in the hospital (he had lung problems), and things of that nature. We were thoroughly confused because he sounded like he was a member but nobody in the ward knew him nor his wife so we were talking with him a few days later, come to find out his wife was a member since she was 8 (but hasn't been to church since around then) and Jerry wasn't a member. So we start planning to teach him because he said he was really interested in coming back to church, but then he moves. Not far, only up to Pateros (a town 20 miles up the highway) but other missionaries work in that town so we weren't going to be able to teach him, which I was kind of disappointed about because I really wanted to work with him and what not. But such is life so we handed him off and helped him move and what not. But then this past week I was on exchanges (when I switch areas for a day) in Pateros, and actually had the opportunity to teach him the 1st lesson we normally teach (the missionaries hadn't been able to have a full lesson yet) and was able to invite him to baptism, to which he said yes! He said it was about time. He knew this is what he needs to do and said he knew this was right. His biggest worry? How long he would be under the water, because he has bad lungs. It was an awesome experience to be able to find and teach him. With any luck, I'll still be here in May when his baptismal date rolls around.

And now for the quote of the week. This one comes from a sign I saw inside a little front porch on a house. Unfortunately they didn't answer so I couldn't complement them but having put my mom through 6 years of it I figured she (and moms everywhere) would appreciate this:

"Raising teenagers is like nailing Jello to a tree"

Hope everyone has an awesome week!

Con cariño,

Elder Kupferer

An Eventful Week!

Well ladies and gentlemen, things are looking up again here in Lake Chelan this week. All sorts of crazy things to write about.

So I guess first things first.  Last Tuesday some members invited us over for dinner to inaugurate a new outdoor fire pit they created with some classic hot dogs and marshmallows (no, that was not the crazy part). So after we finish eating and are sitting around talking one of the younger sons proceeds to continue whittling on a stick and his mom comments on his knife how he got it from his grandpa and the story behind it and then the dad asks his other son to grab his knife from inside the house. The next thing we know, we are learning how to throw knives. It is rather fulfilling watching a knife stick into a piece of plywood. Don't worry mom, I still have all ten fingers.

Later on in the week, we helped a member finish the stone work around his own outdoor fireplace as well. From picking up the sand from a spot on the side of the road to putting the mortar down and choosing the rocks we wanted. That was a ton of fun. Of all the things I expected to learn on a mission, I can honestly say basic masonry was not one of them.

Another cool experience we had this week involved the local Lutheran Pastor. We work with him and some of his members/other volunteers Monday and Tuesday mornings at the local food bank and have developed a pretty good relationship with him and those members over the years that the missionaries have been doing this. So we were walking around town between some people we wanted to visit and saw a lady outside doing some lawn work and offered to help, to which she agreed. And then we realized that it was the aforementioned pastor's wife. It was great seeing how two different religions can still work together despite doctrinal differences. Just because someone believes something different doesn't mean you can't work together or be nice to each other. It was refreshing to see such acceptance. 

Now for the quote of the week, there are many I could do but I will choose one I found rather interesting to think about. For those of you that aren't members of our faith, this past weekend was what is called General Conference, when the Prophet and Apostles and various other general authorities give talks in Salt Lake and have it broadcast throughout the entire world in myriads of languages. One of my favorite quotes comes from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was giving a talk in part about how sometimes the path of discipleship of Jesus Christ won't be easy and from there comes the following:

"It is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all, they want them to be gods who do not demand much, comfortable gods, smooth gods, who not only don't rock the boat, but don't even row it."

That was definitely an interesting point to think about. Sometimes it isn't going to be easy, but God demands a lot so we can become that much more. Even when we are called to go through hard times, we have the promise that the reward will be more than worth it. For the full talk, you can watch it (and others) here: 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/04?lang=eng&vid=3434605271001&cid=5

And with that, I bid thee all farewell. Until next week everyone!

Elder Kupferer