Another Week

And another week goes by. It’s crazy how fast the weeks go by. The days can be long but the weeks are short. I can't believe it’s almost half way through January. It feels like Christmas was yesterday. 

But it’s still winter though. We got a grand total of 1 inch of snow the other night, and I can now say I have officially driven in snow. Oh the things that Southern California kids find entertaining. 

Also entertaining: there is such a thing as Dr. Pepper Licorice now. Just thought I should make that known. It was actually kind of good... I am not sure what to think of it at the moment. I can't decide if I like it or not. It’s surprisingly true to taste. You should all go try some. 

So this week I kind of had an anti-spiritual experience. We had always been told that our study time in the morning makes or breaks our mission. I had never really thought too much of it until this past week. I had always studied and used the time relatively well, but one day I was tired, didn't feel like reading anything in Spanish, my comp had questions, the list goes on. Long story short, it wasn't the most productive study time I've ever had. Then we go out and I didn't think too much of it. But then we got to our first lesson and nothing good really happened. Yes, the lesson went alright and we have a new investigator but the Spirit wasn't there and it by no means was a terribly moving or spiritual lesson. Needless to say I did some serious repenting that night and have since redoubled my efforts in studying effectively. 

Slightly related to studying: if you think Isaiah is bad in English, try Spanish. It’s miserable. And impossible to read. It's like reading "Jesus the Christ" in another language. You need a dictionary to have half an idea of what’s happening. 

So that’s about everything new this week. Hope everyone has had a great start to 2014! 

And as (almost) always, a qoute:

"Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (source: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/come-join-with-us?lang=eng )

Que les vaya muy bien!

Elder Kupferer

Happy New Year!

Well Happy New Year everyone! I can assure you that Benton City is still here despite the raging parties that went on New Year’s Eve. I know the missionaries serving here had a raging party of coming home at 6 and watching Mormon Messages for 2 hours. It was a blast. 

So here is something that you would have never thought would have happened to an American missionary serving state side. Had a traditional Korean New Year’s lunch. Yeup. We went over to Prosser (the next town over that’s part of our district) and some members there invited us to have lunch with them, and since one of the elders is from South Korea and the member served in Korea, we had a Korean lunch, complete with kimchi and dduk gook (rice cake soup). We also had squid jerky which isn't as bad as it sounds. But overall it was really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oh, I can also say I have now had legit ramen. 

So this past week we put someone on date (given them a date to be baptized) and I must say that it was a really cool experience. To finally see your hard work pay off and the gospel and the Spirit work within them. After two months of little to no work, it was a nice change of pace. 

Sign update: still the same. I'll try and come up with another quote next week. 

Hope you all enjoy 2014!

Elder Kupferer

An (Almost) White Christmas

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/Holiday Season this year! I know I did! We had an (almost) White Christmas up here in Benton City. And by white I mean there was some frost on the trees and grass. That's close enough right? 

But all in all it was a great day. Skyping home was definitely the highlight of the day but it was nice opening up presents and eating with members all day. Fun was had by all as we reveled in the Christmas spirit remembering the Savior Jesus Christ. 

This past week was also pretty nice because we got to go to the temple again. That is always a great pleasure. Always a lot to learn. 

And with that I bid you all farewell. Nothing too exciting going on. Everybody is gone for the Holidays so hopefully next week there will be a little bit more to write about. Even the truck didn't bother updating from "Carports for sale. Will trade." *sniffs*. Still so beautiful. Gets me every time. 

Until 2014! <---- Crazy!

Elder Kupferer

OK, Now It’s Really Almost Christmas! (written 12/23/13)

Welp it’s actually almost Christmas now. It’s crazy. I feel like Halloween just ended. But to usher in the wonderful Christmas season we had transfers! My new companion has been out 18 months and just came from a 7 Month stint in Pasco. So far it seems to be working out pretty well. He’s good at the things I'm not and I do fairly well where he struggles so I am excited for this transfer. He doesn't speak Spanish though...... so looks like I need to brush off that Spanish textbook again. Oh well. So far my Spanish has been doing pretty well, but I am really praying for some extra help.

Speaking of the Holiday season, I've decided that as a missionary they suck. Like really not fun. Cause everyone is out doing shopping or gone for the Holidays and always say "try back after the holidays I'm super busy right now." Well after two hours of knocking, I am definitely not busy. So for the first time in my life I can't wait for Christmas break to end. Crazy shocker right? I'm sure that'll change the second I get home. 

Also part of this wintery holiday season - I am really grateful for my shoes. They are comfortable, look nice, and so water resistant that they even resist the ice on the ground...... whoever designed dress shoes was obviously a Southern Californian where people can pay way too much for clothing and has never experienced ice. I have almost died like five or six times from slipping on ice this week alone. And by almost dying I mean slipping. But it makes it fun. Life-threatening experiences always provide a nice pick-me-up and get the adrenaline going. 

So here’s a cool story. The day of transfers we got back to Benton City and my comp unpacked and then we went to an appointment that fell through (again I hate the Holiday season right now) and so we decided to knock on some doors. First door we knock, he lets us in, and then 20 minutes later says he wants to be baptized! Like that never happens! And then we go back the next day to talk with him and give him an actual date... and he's not there. So we are like aw man that rots. I knew it was too good to be true. Turns out he just moved to Grandview so we sent the elders over there the contact and hopefully it all turns out okay. 

And now to close, the truck finally has a quote back on it! Prepare for the most inspirational quote you've ever heard. It made me cry like a little baby. 

"Carports for sale. Will Trade."

Yup. So touching. *sniff*

Until next week!

Feliz navidad, prospero anos, y felicidad!

Elder Kupferer

It’s Almost Christmas!

Christmas is almost here! So stoked. A couple of weeks ago our ward had a Christmas party to get us all into the spirit. Nothing too fancy. They had a ton of cookies and hot chocolate and then had a little Christmas program. It was the story of the Nativity and Christ's birth as told by the Book of Mormon. It was pretty well done. Had a little bit of everything. Singing, small kids acting, some last minute scrambling of roles, all the classics of a ward Christmas Party. It was a pretty enjoyable night. 

Our Mission is also getting into the Christmas Spirit as well. Last Tuesday we had our Christmas Zone Conference which was a ton of fun. We had some trainings (that focused a little bit on Christmas amazingly enough) then watched a fun slideshow of events during the past year. Our Mission President (who used to be the VP of Publishing for Deseret Book so I think that’s how this was pulled off) got us all a Christmas gift even. He gave every missionary a copy of “Believing Christ.” It was a pretty cool gift. It’s a great book. If you haven't already read it, read it. It’s short but well worth your time. 

I'd have to say though the best part of the day was we watched Monster's University!!!!!!!!!!! It’s the one time of the year where we can watch a movie and not be sent home for it so it was really nice kicking back for two hours. It was so much fun. And then the credits ended, the lights come on, and you realize you're wearing a shirt and tie in a church gym. That wasn't as fun but alas. The movie was really enjoyable. 

Even Benton City is getting into the Christmas spirit. All throughout town, there’s a ton of Christmas lights hung up and all the buildings are decorated and they have wreaths on the light posts and what not. Think the Orange Circle just a million times less busy and no Bruxie's. 

Well that’s all for this week. No good signs this week so here is a quote from one of the AP's (Assistants to the President) who in turn took it from someone else:

"Live your life in such a way that people who don't know Christ will want to come to know Him because they know you."

Hasta la proxima semana! 

Elder Kupferer

Man It's Cold!

So it’s been pretty dang cold up here. For the past week, it hasn't been above freezing. I think it might have hit 31 in the sun one afternoon but other than that it’s been about 24 during the day if we are lucky. Thank heavens for beenies though. So far, everything has been pretty warm.... except for my face. Just short of looking like I'm about to rob a bank with a full ski mask it’s about the only part that will ever get cold. As if Spanish wasn't challenging enough already, I now speak it with a half frozen mouth. All sorts of fun stuff. 

So driving from a meeting to lunch the other day (side note: one thing I didn't expect about being a missionary was all the meetings oh my gosh. District meetings, zone training meetings, ward correlation meetings.... the list goes on) anyways I look out into the distance and notice in the direction of Hanford (there’s a huge nuclear waste clean up going on out there right now) a giant cloud coming from the ground that looked like a mushroom. I was told it was from the power reactor's heat exhaust but I'm convinced something’s gone wrong at Hanford and the government is just covering it up. If I come back with a third arm, we will know what happened. 

Also another thing I didn't know about missionary life was teaching child of record baptism candidates (kids born in the church turning 8). The Bishop here in Benton City (he is in charge of the ward, much like a pastor at another church) asked us to teach the missionary lessons to children turning 8 in a few months. It is a great experience. Definitely a different type of challenge than regular teaching but it’s amazing to see how simple life can be and the simple things that children notice we adults (I'm over 18 now so I can call myself an adult and sit at the adult table now) often glance over and don't give a second thought to. It is a whole different type of spiritual experience. I'm loving it. (not a reference to McDonalds in case anyone was wondering)

If we want to stay with this week's theme of "Things Elder Kupferer didn't realize about going on a mission" let me add ‘Exchanges’ onto the list. Something simple we do but still super powerful. Every transfer (a 6 week period) the district leaders go on exchanges with every member in their district (usually 2 to 4 companionships) so for a day we basically switch companions. It’s a super great learning experience because it shows us different ways of doing things and not just dropping us into the same routine over and over. 

And now, since the stupid truck is still blank here is a quote I saw hanging outside one of the trailers here in the great BC "Be nice to your kids because they will choose your retirement home." 

Stay awesome and I hope you all enjoy this wonderful upcoming Christmas season!

Hasta Luego, 

Elder Kupferer

Thanksgiving!!

Well I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving this past week. I know I did. Lots of good food and awesome members. At the Church we had a potluck and there was just so much good stuff I didn't know where to start. I've decided the one thing I don't like about Thanksgiving is having too much food I want to eat.

And to top it all off, we got snow the day after! And by snow I mean there was a light covering on the trees and plants but still. It was really cool. Everything was white and awesome. And then it melted the next day. Not too much of a surprise. And then for some reason, two days later, it gets up to 60 degrees again. It was crazy. Washington can't decide if it’s fall or winter yet.

This week we had a lesson with one of our investigators that went super well. She has been taught almost everything and is mostly waiting to resolve things with her family right now but the members we were having the lesson with had their daughter and son-in-law there. For most of the time the son-in-law hadn't been saying much but then after the main part of the lesson and we were just visiting all of a sudden he spoke up and bore a super powerful testimony of his conversion. It was most definitely unexpected but still incredibly powerful and moving. Definitely one of the highlights of the week.

And now, since the truck with the sayings has been blank the past two weeks, here is a quote from a bumper sticker I saw: "Go to Church, because Walmart isn't the only saving place."

And with that, I wish you all a happy holiday season and I'll see you next week!

Elder Kupferer