We come out of a lesson
Thursday evening and started our car as we wipe the sweat off our forehead and
check the temperature gauge in our car and find that it reads 121. Thankfully
it started dropping when the car got moving again but seemed to stop around
106. And then stayed like that until Sunday night. I don't know why, but for
some reason Moses Lake was exceedingly hot this weekend. You step outside at 11
in the morning and it’s already 104 and then you get home at 9 and its still
104. You walk around and talk to people all day long and it’s still 108 with
the sun beating you in the back, then walk up to a door and the sun gets
bounced back off the door, doubling the effect. On the bright side, I'm pretty
sure I lost 5 pounds this weekend. Also brought back a lot of memories of
summer trips to Arizona. Thankfully this next week should be better. A nice,
mild 101.
This past week we had
probably the saddest specialized training with our Mission President. Once
every other transfer the Assistants and the Mission President tour the mission
and have trainings prepared for individual zones since it allows for a more
personal teaching environment. This week our President crammed half the mission
into a week of trainings with usually 2 or 3 of these 2 hour meetings a day to
see the North half of the mission one last time before the mission split this
week. Once the split happens, we will be under a new mission president and so
our current president won't see or hear from us anymore. It was a sad day of
goodbyes all the way around on both ends. It was particularly sad for a lot of
us veterans because we have been with him since he started. As I was hugging
him goodbye he was kind enough to remind me that it will only be a couple of
weeks until we see him again at the airport. It was sad to say goodbye but I'm
excited for the new mission because it means the work is going forward. The
Lord is truly hastening the work in central Washington and I'm excited to see
the miracles that will come.
For us this week was
definitely filled with miracles. God must have felt sorry for us sweating our
brains out so he blessed with a lot of lessons and
guided us to so many people that were willing to listen. Unfortunately most of
the lessons were either doorstep or outside lessons because there weren't other
males present or the air conditioning wasn't working / didn't exist so the
houses were ovens (had a lesson in one of those as well) so we were getting
roasted most of the evenings and afternoons but inside we felt good because we
knew we were doing the best thing we could. And it’s a lot more fulfilling
teaching than getting doors slammed in your face. We met a lot of people that
had cool stories and backgrounds, like a lady that is up from Mexico for the
picking season that had met with missionaries 3 years ago and still remembers
most of what they taught and wants to get baptized; a guy who found a Book of Mormon
in the trash and decided to pick it up and works on the dairy farm of a member;
and someone who just plain wanted answers, to name a few.
Overall this week was
extremely rewarding despite the unrelenting heat. I'm excited to see what
happens this upcoming week when we meet with all these people again. As we go
forward facing another hot week the quote that keeps coming to mind comes from
a shirt our branch mission leader wore to a correlation meeting a few weeks ago
that says simply enough:
"Man up and just do
it."
No magic pill, no amount of
complaining, nor any program will substitute or alleviate the heat (or any of
the challenges we face, mission life or regular for that matter) so that quote,
albeit from Nike, has really helped me keep going these past few weeks.
May you all have a cooler
week than mine and a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!
Elder Kupferer
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