Last Day in Mexico!

It’s finally here. After 18 years I am finally headed to my mission to serve the Lord for the next two years. Crazy stuff. Nevertheless, I am excited to have this wonderful once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can’t wait to spend my entire life for 2 years helping people and fulfilling my missionary purpose - Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo y ayudarlas a que reciban el Evangelio restaurado [Invite all to come unto Christ and help them receive the Restored Gospel]. I have learned so much here in the CCM both in Spanish and about the Gospel and I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge of how this plan can help make others happier and help them in their lives.

In terms of what’s happened in the past five days, not much. As is tradition though, my district sang a song during Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. It was a nice experience. It wasn’t quite as complex as “O Magnum” or “Prayer of the Children” but it was great singing again with my best friends here.

And with thought, I am signing off for the last time from the wonderful land of Mexico. ¡Hasta luego todos!

Elder Kupferer

¡Viva Mexico!

This has been a rather interesting penultimate week here in Mexico.  Monday (9/16) Was Mexican Independence Day.  As such the CCM let us have some fun.  Saturday night they had a local youth group come (I believe they were all members) and they did some traditional dances. It was quite simply amazing. They had authentic costumes and the colors and skill shown by the dancers was mesmerizing.  At one point there were four guys who did some cool tricks with short little metal sticks almost like swords. There was flint on the swords and so when they’d hit the swords together sparks would go flying.  It was all very, very cool. I won’t be forgetting that for a while.

On Sunday night was when the big event happened. First a little history so this will make sense: Spain had been oppressing Mexico for several centuries and was treating them about as well as conquering countries did at the time. Then in 1810, Father Hidalgo had had enough of the oppression and poverty and started a revolution. On the night of September the 15th there was "un grito" (a cry) where they chanted ¡Viva México! 3 times before the revolution started the next day. Eleven very bloody years later they finally won their independence from Spain and established a constitution much like our own. Fast forward almost 200 years later, every September 15th the President of Mexico holds a national cry commemorating Father Hidalgo's call for revolution. He chants ¡Viva Hidalgo! and the rest of the country (yes - the entire country; its televised) chants back ¡Viva! He then does a couple more things culminating in ¡Viva México! three times. It was actually a really cool experience. Even though I’m only here for 6 weeks it was cool to be a part of something very special to them. If you all would like, I’m sure a quick YouTube search of "Mexico El Grito" would probably yield useful results so you can see what I am talking about.

 So thus far in the CCM the food has actually managed to become somewhat tolerable and dare I say good? For example, today we had barbecue chicken that actually tasted like barbecue chicken. We have also managed to work out what works well together to make the meals more desirable. For example, the pancakes when covered in mango or blueberry yogurt (yes, yogurt) are surprisingly quite good. Having said that however, I feel like some serious desensitization to the food has happened and I can’t wait to get back stateside and have an actual taco.

So here’s a cool quote we were told this week. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink, but you can put salt in its oats." I was told this in context to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ but I still thought it is a great quote that can be used for a lot of stuff. 

After six weeks and talking with "greenies" or newbs, beginners, what have you, I can pretty safely say that I have learned more Spanish in the past six weeks than I did in three years at High School. No offense to the teachers, but with the help of the Lord and the fact that I’m in Mexico speaking with natives my ability to speak and comprehend has improved a million times over. For example, we had a devotional speaker (they give talks about different spiritual subjects) who started his talk in English but slipped into Spanish and it took me (and my district) a minute to realize he had changed. Obviously there are still light years to go but it’s been amazing to see the progress. I can actually hold a normal conversation in Spanish. It’s great.

So during one of our classes we were talking about different conjugations (I am, he is, we are, that sort of thing). When talking about a single person, there is the personal, you (informal - talking with friends, young kids), and you (formal - like talking to a king or an elder)/he/she/it form. In Spanish they are (respectively) the “yo”, “tú”, and “él/ella/usted” form. Long story short so this doesn’t turn into a grammar lesson I always thought English just had the first and last but apparently I was wrong. In English, (I’ll use “to have” because that’s the only one I know this in) it is “I have”, “thou hast”, and “you have/he (or she) has”. Who knew that all along Shakespeare was talking to us like a bro? Definitely would have made English class a bit more entertaining.

And now a funny story to end today. Every other week, we get to drive to our temple that’s about 45 -60 minutes away (this is unrelated but we did it in 30 today; we think our bus driver was just exceedingly hungry). As I’ve explained before, traffic laws I am sure do not actually exist in Mexico and everyone drives like mad men down here. But I would have to say that the most entertaining (and most horrifyingly frightening) thing to happen during a bus ride was when we got cut off by nothing other than a backhoe. Yes, a giant yellow construction backhoe. It just decided that it would drive across the street to the construction site. I was too busy freaking out about running into it that I didn’t see where it was coming from but we did indeed get cut off by a backhoe. Fun times down in Mexico.

And thus ends the update for today. I leave early next week for Washington to start the main part of my mission. I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn and grow and will let you all know what it’s like (mostly because I fear the wrath of my mom should I stop emailing).

Until next time,

Elder Kupferer

Week 4 in Mexico

Hello everyone!

So far, if it’s even possible, we’ve gotten into even more of a routine. But here is what has made the week interesting thus far:

Apparently, the MTC president down here in Mexico, President Pratt, is best friends with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. For those of you that don’t know, Elder Holland is one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  For those of us in down here in the CCM, that was pretty crazy. Elder Holland is an excellent orator and never fails to inspire everyone. When we discovered he knew our president on a personal level, it was an interesting topic of discussion for the next several days. Also, he (President Pratt) is the great (maybe great great) grandson of one of the first members of the church, Parley P. Pratt. Presidente Pratt never ceases to amaze us.

Also down here in our little bubble in the CCM, we have a fair number of parrots that live in the palm trees down here. It was surprising to see little green birds flying around in the trees.

One of the things that happens in the limited social lives of elders in the CCM is a tie swap. It sounds just like what the name implies. A bunch of elders all gather in the living room of a casa and set out their ties and walk around bargaining for different ties. It looks like a sad attempt at a swap meet. It is (for me at least) kind of comical watching a bunch of elders try and sell ties. A lot of them were bad imitations of salesmen. I myself didn’t trade any because all my ties either mean something or I like them too much but it was probably a good thing I didn’t take any because the ties there were the definition of ugly.

Mom you’ll appreciate this. This week someone came around to check our houses for cleanliness and our room was the best in the casa. They even rewarded us with candy! and by candy I mean 1 Hershey's Kiss. But you can now live in peace and comfort knowing that you have prepared me well mother.

And now for you Spanish word for the day. The Spanish word for 'handcuff' is “esposa.” For those of you that don’t speak Spanish, esposa is also Spanish for wife. I’ll just leave it at that.

That’s about it for this week. I am now in my fifth week here in the CCM and my Spanish is progressing quite well. I can understand a lot of what the natives are saying (they sometimes have to repeat it once or twice) but I am learning a lot.

Until next week,

Elder Kupferer

¡Semana tres!

¡Hola!

So far life down here in the CCM has pretty much settled into a nice routine. Wake up, study, breakfast, class, gym, lunch, TALL, study, more class, dinner, even more studying, then bed. So here is what I have managed to put together for an interesting update this week.

The weather. Even if I have already talked about it the weather has definitely changed. For most of the day the weather is absolutely perfect. Nice 75 degrees with a slight breeze. It is beautiful. Lately, however, whenever around 5 PM hits, it begins to pour. Not like Southern California rain. I mean biblical amounts of rain. It is amazing. I looked out the window one time and it honestly looked like a clip from a weather channel video on a tornado or something like that. After at least four straight days of this, the grass hasn’t had time to soak it all in and in the middle of the downpour, the lawns here become lakes. It is pretty awesome. I’ll try to get a picture out when I get to Washington and can finally buy an SD card reader.

Another interesting thing is that they just introduced Nutella into the options during breakfast and dinner. It is nice to have a little taste of home. But this is the funny part. One of the guys in our district has not had it up until now. He has since discovered the joys of Nutella and it is universally agreed that he will one day die from a Nutella-induced coma. The copious amounts he consumes every meal are most definitely not safe portions.

And now for the part I am particularly proud of. During gym time we are allowed 50 minutes to play sports/work out (they have a surprisingly nice weight room) and so often times we like to play Ultimate Frisbee. Thus far, we have only lost one game to the other undefeated team by one point in overtime. They have since left and we are now the reigning champs. It is great.

This week I got asked to teach our priesthood meeting this Sunday (along with my companions) so we will see how that goes.

Anyways that’s about it for this week. Life in the CCM is pretty much the same day in day out so hopefully in 3 weeks when I finally get back stateside things will be more interesting for you all.

¡Hasta luego!

Week Two in Mexico

Hello Everyone!

Mexico has been great thus far. The schedule is pretty much the same as last week but now in the afternoon we only teach our 'investigator' for an hour. We then have classes with our second teacher for the rest of the day. We also have another investigator in the morning for an hour followed by more classes until gym time. That’s the same.

The teachers here are great. Our morning teacher is Hermano Valdez (“Hermano” is Spanish for brother; for the sake of time my parents can explain why that is). He is from Mexico and is quite hilarious. He is a great guy and it is a lot of fun having him as our teacher.

Our other teacher is Hermana Haws (“Hermana” is Spanish for sister). She is from the great and wonderful land of Utah but she served a mission in Chicago which is why her Spanish is good enough to have her be a teacher down here. She is an absolutely amazing teacher. She is like a female Elder Holland. Every lesson the Spirit is unbelievably strong and she makes you want to be a better person. It is amazing having her as a teacher and I am so blessed and lucky I get to have here for my teacher.

Here is a fun fact for you all. Every Tuesday we have a devotional or meeting with a church authority, either from an Area Authority or someone visiting in Mexico or broadcast live from Provo. This week was a live broadcast with Elder Neil L. Anderson from the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. What was really cool was that it was broadcast to over 4000 people across 3 or 4 MTCs around the world. That is the most people ever to receive an MTC devotional and it was really cool to be a part of.

Believe it or not the food here has actually managed to kind of grow on me. It isn’t ever Mexican food unfortunately but it actually has started to get a bit better. Breakfast is still usually the worst with dry waffles and occasionally some questionable eggs but lunch is usually the best meal of the day. Once you kind of accept that there really aren’t many other food choices the food actually gets kind of good. Having said that, I can’t wait to come back to the states and have some nice quality fast food.

One cool thing about Mexico is that they have different candy than we do. While the store here still has Nerds and Snickers and such, they also have this stuff called Bubu Lubu. It is a marshmallow with a layer of strawberry filling, covered in chocolate. Google it if you want to see for yourself. It is amazing.

I wish I could include more pictures but none of the computers here have an SD card reader so most pics will have to wait until I get back to Washington and can buy an SD card reader. Sorry!

That’s all for now folks. Talk to you all next week. Adios!

Hola del CCM!

Hello Everyone!

This first week at the CCM (centro de capacitacion misional - Spanish for the Missionary Training Center or MTC) has been really great thus far. I arrived in the Mexico City Airport Tuesday afternoon (on the 13th). The flight was (thankfully?) uneventful and boring but there’s no two ways around it. I got off the plane and met the person who was waiting for me. He didn't speak English and I didn't speak much Spanish so that was fun. But we went through the surprisingly large airport and got on a bus with other missionaries who arrived a little bit earlier and drove to the CCM. Mexico City is definitely not what I expected. A lot of it is kind of run down but the surprising part was the traffic. If you think the 5 up through LA is bad, you have not seen Mexico City traffic. The streets are pretty narrow and the cars small, but nobody really has much of a sense of self preservation so everyone is weaving through each other and stopping suddenly. I’m just thankful I wasn’t driving.

We showed up at the CCM which was surprisingly beautiful and very well kept. There are people that are always working on the lawn here. It is unbelievable. We got our luggage, checked in, then went to our rooms. Everyone showed up at different times so my first companion didn't show up until almost 9. His name was Elder Knowles from Utah I believe. We unpacked and then passed out until another guy showed up at 11:30. Took me three hours to fall back asleep. Gotta love time zones.

The next day was a lot of meetings but we also met with our teacher. I was in the beginning class but apparently my Spanish was pretty good so I got switched up to the intermediate class which has been one of the best choices I've made. The people are amazing and the class is challenging. But more about the people later.

I met with my new companions (I am in a trio) and then finished the day off. The next day there were more meetings but so far the schedule has pretty much settled into a routine. Wake up at 6 to shower and get ready then an hour of personal study time and then breakfast. We then have three hours of lessons on various church and language topics before a little less than an hour for gym time. We have the option to play basketball, ping pong, weights (they have two extremely nice weight rooms), volleyball, ultimate frisbee, or soccer. So far soccer is the best. It’s in a little court that’s fenced in but it’s a blast. After gym we shower and then have lunch before an hour set aside for a program call TALL. It stands for Technology Aided Language Learning and was developed at BYU. It’s a program that has exercises to learn vocab and grammar related to lessons. After we have several hours to prepare and teach an 'investigator' who is really just a member (and ultimately our second teacher) that we can practice with. After that we have dinner and then study time until 9 when we plan and then go back to our houses to get ready for bed, write and journals, then be in bed by 10:30.

Now for the food. Long story short, it can be explained by food just becomes food. Breakfast usually consists of dry waffles and strawberry or chocolate syrup. Like the strawberry syrup you put on ice cream. Apparently maple syrup just isn’t a thing in Mexico. Lunch is usually the best meal. Dinner is hit and miss.

Now for the people. Attached is a picture of my district. For those of you that don’t know the mission is broken down into branches of about 60 people then into districts of 10 to 12 (ours is currently nine at this point). I’ll just go through left to right.

Hermana (Spanish for Sister) Christensen Oregon and going to Phoenix. She and the next person, Hermana Romney (distantly related to the Mitt Romney) are both extremely good at Spanish so they just left for the advanced class which is why we are now down to 9 people in our district. Hmna Romney actually played basketball at BYU so that is pretty cool.

Next is Elder Chidester (AKA the karate kid - he is always swatting at the mosquitoes) from Cedar Hills Utah, going to Paraguay. He is really funny. His comp and the next in line is Elder Pearson from Riverton Utah going to the same mission. He is a great guy.

Next is one of my companions Elder Perrine from Sacramento. He is going to Eugene Oregon. Next is yours truly then my other comp Elder Allen from the Motherland of Provo Utah who is also going to Eugene Oregon. Elder Allen is a great guy. He is serious about the work but knows how to have a good time. He is really into outdoors stuff like hiking and wakeboarding and hunting apparently. I really enjoy being his comp.

Next is Elder Skelton. He is going to Chile Concepcion and is amazingly enough from Tustin. Like a block away from Cafe Rio Tustin. Small world. He is our district leader and pretty well versed in the Spanish language. His comp is the guy next to him, Elder Roberts. He is from Mapleton Utah and going to the same mission in Chile. He is a really funny guy. He is really dedicated but at times his sense of humor kicks it and it is amazing.

After him are Elder Ridd (from Yakima which is actually in my mission) and Elder Payne (from Orem). They are both going to Quito Ecuador. They are both really great guys.

All in all I love my district. We can be serious at times but know how to enjoy ourselves. We have shared many a laughs together. Our branch president is a guy named President Alvarado who is taking the pic so he’s not in there. He is a great man that I don’t think knows what frowning is. He is always beaming and it’s great to be around him.

Now time for miscellaneous stuff I didn’t know where else to put. In our branch there is an Elder Mangum. For those of you who don’t know, he is going to be the starting quarterback for BYU when he returns. He is an amazingly humble and amazing guy and if he didn’t look like he could bench me as a warm up you wouldn’t tell he is the QB for BYU. Also, if I didn’t know better, Iid assume we are in a war zone. There are party cannons that go off all day (someone counted and got over 40) but sound like actual canons so that’s fun. Apparently Mexico City also gets a lot of earthquakes so the CCM has an early warning system in place that goes off occasionally. Haven’t actually felt an earthquake yet though...

Something I forgot to mention was the rain. It rains almost every day. Not necessarily for a long time but there has only been like one where it hasn’t rained. Right now we are in a thunderstorm that caught us in the middle of soccer game. It’s been great.

All in all it’s a really great experience down here. Until next week everyone. Hasta Luego!

Elder Kupferer Has Arrived! August 13, 2013

Hey guys,

I made it to Mexico safe. The flight was uneventful. We checked in and are about to go to our dorms/homes. The bus ride was entertaining. This puts LA traffic to shame. Its a miracle we didn't die. We got here safely and I'll write a letter soon.

Love,

Elder Kupferer