That's pretty much all we
have done all week. Monday and Tuesday were relatively normal days taking care
of this and that in preparation for the missionaries returning home and the
incoming missionaries. Monday night since we drive the giant van we were tasked
with picking up all the missionaries who were going home the following day and
took them to our townhome so they would have a place to lay their head. It
was pretty entertaining watching all these missionaries walk around the house
like zombies, conscious of their imminent doom of returning home. That
night when we tried to go to bed they mostly just spent time tossing war
stories back and forth from their two years of experience under their belt.
Eventually we got to bed around midnight only to have the alarm go off at 5 the
following morning so people could start taking showers since they had to leave
around 7 that morning. My companion and I stayed behind and cleaned up around
the house in preparation for the incoming missionaries that night so they had a
good example of what missionary housing is to look like (not to say that we
don't clean throughout the other six weeks because we do). We finally finish
that afternoon and after sharing some pizza with some fellow missionaries one
last time we took off walking the 4 miles to our area. Since the van is
technically the transfer van and transfers were now upon us we were sore out of
luck in terms of transportation. Having not walked that far at one given time
in a very long time (I can't remember the last time to be honest) it was
surprisingly strenuous and made me extremely grateful for the car we drove. The
weather was on our side though as it has been consistently getting warmer (we
are into the 50's now – it’s awesome) so it was overall a pleasant afternoon.
We (slowly) made our way over to the mission home to look over the missionaries
that had arrived earlier in the day from the Provo MTC as the President and the
assistants took off to pick up the incoming group from the Mexico MTC. So for
two hours we showed them the church and how to properly give a church tour
in addition to a walk around the temple grounds as well. Upon the return of the
Spanish missionaries from Mexico we (thankfully) took the van back to head to
dinner and then make the rounds of goodbyes that night only to return and
repeat the process of the night before. The new missionaries all piled into
Megatron (our affectionately named van) and headed with us to our humble abode
to spend the night. Thankfully since most of them were running on little to no
sleep we were able to make it to bed on time and since the numbers were fewer
than the preceding night the alarm went off at 6 instead of 5. So we repeated a
similar process of short showers and dropping people off Wednesday morning in time
for transfers. It was tough saying goodbye to an area and zone after only 6
weeks but I was glad to be going back to the basin.
Upon arrival Othello we still
got to sit around for a few hours waiting for people to come and go so that
transfers would be finished and were able to go out to work that night but that
work came to an abrupt halt Thursday morning. The day started with a trip to
Basin City to coordinate with some other missionaries about the upcoming Zone
Meeting we would be having and that was finished in time for us to head back
down to the very area I had come from not even 24 hours prior for a
trainer trainee meeting. There are four companionships out of the 12 in our
zone where one is a brand new missionary and so we were invited to attend the
meeting that explains to them a little about missionary work. It was a fun
meeting to be a part of and enjoy the presence of all the excitement the
new missionaries brought to the field. After the meeting we had some dinner and
then worked our way over to North Pasco to correlate with a member of the Stake
Presidency about the missionary work in that stake. It was a rather inspiring
meeting since as we discussed it on the way home, my companion and I - both 19
years of age - are tasked with working with these men that have had twice our
age in experience in the church and life. They trust us enough to work closely
with these men and I was privileged with this opportunity to learn from some of
the finest in the area. After an hour road trip home we made it back in time
for a lesson with a recent convert before heading home that night. And then
Friday happened.
Friday started off with
what's called District Leader Orientation. About what the name implies. There
are three District leaders in the zone that have been district leaders for 0,
1, or 2 transfers previous and so we took a few hours to sit them down and tell
them what was going on (in a nice way). It was a surprisingly inspiring
meeting given that we only had 30 minutes to plan for it between dinner
and correlation the previous night. The district leaders were all super
young but they have a huge desire to do a good job and so my companion and I
are extremely excited for what is going to happen this transfer in working with
them. After some pizza we headed home to sit down and plan for another 2 hours
in preparation for the Zone Meeting that would occur the following day and
despite the limited amount of time the trainings came together super well. We
spent a few minutes finally starting the weekly planning that normally occurs
on Friday before heading to dinner and then going to work that night since we
were both sick of our apartment and wanted to actually do something, not just
plan for it.
Saturday started off with
what I think was one of the best Zone Meetings I have been to (me running it
has nothing to do with it by the way). It was great to see how even though we
didn't have as much time as we would have liked to put more thought into the
training (our last training was planned for at 6 AM the morning of) the Lord
was able to magnify our efforts and carry the spirit of what we wanted to
get across to the members of the zone. Once the meeting had concluded and lunch
was finished and goodbyes were had, we drove to Les Schwab to fix a flat tire we
discovered that morning (when it rains it pours right) and started the weekly
planning that was supposed to have occurred the previous day and upon
completion of the tire fix we returned home to plan for the upcoming week until
dinner and just left all the planning for a later time (we finally finished it
Sunday night).
Throughout this whole process
of meetings and correlation and planning it’s been interesting to note how the
Lord recognizes the time and effort we have to put into the various matters of
the zone and since it detracts from our proselyting time He makes the time we
do have to go out and work that much more effective. For example, Friday night
we only had three hours to work. We were supposed to meet with a kid that is
getting baptized soon but for one reason or another it ended up not panning out
so we went and tried by a house we felt inspired to try by. We talked with the
kid that answered the door for about 15 minutes and left having taught the
Restoration, inviting him to be baptized, and a return appointment. That was
followed by a lesson where we were finally able to put two kids on date for
baptism (just realized I use the word 'kids' a lot - it is referring to people
under the age 18, not just like 9 year old kids) that had been needing to
happen for a few weeks now.
Overall this past week has
been exhausting to say the least but it really has been great to be working
with the people I am with and to be back in Othello. The blessings just keep
coming and I am super excited to be where I am at right now and the
opportunities that are lying just around the corner.
The quote this week comes
from our mission president a few weeks ago when he had come to pick up a
missionary who had some medical problems. He walked into our house to pick up
the luggage and say a prayer with us before departing and came into the main
room where we all were. After the prayer, he stands up, looks around, and then
remarks:
"I have been into that
hallway hundreds of times but I have never been into the inner sanctum
before."
It warmed my heart knowing
that I lived in the inner sanctum of something. Haven't decided what yet, but
it’s the inner sanctum of something.
And with that I wish you all
a good week and a happy post-Single's Awareness Day.
Elder Kupferer
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