A Week That Makes Missionary Work Worth It

So first of all this week was a little bit weird because of the temple P-Day we had mid-week where we went down to Tri Cities (which is why the blog came out later than normal). I was thinking that because of this I wouldn't have an extraordinary week to report but I was mistaken by a long shot.

On Saturday, we started the day early because we had to have a Branch Correlation meeting with our branch mission leader (there are 3 sets of missionaries in the branch so it can make coordinating schedules a pain) before a meeting we had with the zone but it was a good start to the day. After the meeting finished (and the remarks by our BML on how many meetings we have had subsided), we had to rush off to a lesson that had been pushed 3 hours early because he had something to go to (which was the first sign it was going to be good because he rescheduled for early not just cancelled as most people do). We get to the lesson and immediately once he begins describing his experience the Spirit slapped everyone in the face (in a good way) and set the tone for the rest of the lesson. It was one of the more powerful lessons I have had in a long time and it was such a humbling experience to see his countenance just shining with what he was learning and beginning to understand. He still has a long ways to go but he is starting to see the goodness and light that are coming from living the gospel, which is something he needs right now.

After such an amazing lesson we rushed off to lunch with a member and had some posole with her and her son which will always make any day good, so it just turned this day from good to better. We were pretty excited with where the day was going when to our astonishment a church tour we had set up didn't cancel but she actually showed up. After a pretty standard church tour, we got to the end and when we invited her to be baptized she didn't know how to respond but then told us she had to tell us something and get it off her chest (which usually doesn't mean good things). Come to find out, however, that after several experiences she has had with random people and enough missionaries knocking on her door she felt like God was trying to tell her something so she finally decided to give it a try.

We thought that was about as good as the week could get but we were mistaken. The first person I talked about came to church, only for the first hour, but liked the experience and is excited to keep meeting. The rest of the day went mediocre until the last hour of the night. We had a lesson set up with a family that we had talked with a couple of times before but hadn't appeared to be extremely promising (lesson of the week, apparently Elder Kupferer doesn't have a lot of faith) but those poor expectations of mine were most definitely blown out of the water. Throughout the lesson we could see the things they were learning click in their minds and watched as the Spirit helped them understand and answer questions they had had. As the lesson continued, you could see them getting more and more involved and subsequently more and more excited. They accepted all the invitations that were extended with gusto and were committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. They wouldn't be able to meet as a couple until the following week since she works nights for one week then days for one week but he was more than willing to have us come over and read to him since he doesn’t read well during the week that his wife would be gone. I cannot even begin to describe the joy and happiness we felt Sunday night reviewing the week and seeing the multitude of blessings we had received from the Lord. It is weeks (rather weekends) like this one that make missionary work the most rewarding undertaking I have ever done.

The quote from the week is actually from one of my uncles the week before I left and it has since taken on new meaning after this weekend.

"Your mission won't be the best two years of your life, but it will be the most rewarding two years of your life."

With that I wish you all a wonderful week cooler than the 104 it is up here.

Elder Kupferer

Another Week in Moses Lake

Not a terribly exciting week up here in the great Pacific Northwest. Another week of talking with people and finding some new people and talking with more people and then teaching some people. This area has presented a particular challenge for us because the Spanish population is a lot less prevalent in our area and so our opportunities to find them are fewer and farther between. The English elders that cover our area are loving us though, that’s for sure. Two sets of missionaries finding for one area.

This week we did have a pretty cool evening with the ward. Once a week most families in the church have what’s called "Family Home Evening" which is a chance for a family to get together and spend time together, having fun and learning about the gospel. Well this week, our branch decided to do a big group one as a branch at the church Monday night. It was a fun experience to get to know everyone a little bit better and have some treats. There was a miscommunication so we ended up getting to give the lesson with 0 seconds notice. Yet again, I can attest to the fact that the gift of exhortation is a real thing. 2 years ago I wouldn't have been able to come up with a lesson and scripture on the spot, let alone in Spanish. Now it seems like nothing. Definitely grateful for the help the Lord gives us if we are making sure to do our part.

Probably the coolest example of charity this week happened to us. Well, not to us specifically but we witnessed it. We were out walking around one hot afternoon and found someone to talk with (which was a tender mercy in and of its self at that hour of the afternoon) and shortly found out that his wife of 10 years had left him and took everything, except the kids, so he was staying at his parent's house trying to get his feet under him. We then, shortly thereafter, find out that she had also damaged some property of his and was caught, but after a few days, he dropped the charges because he didn't want to ruin her life. Then, the next time we see him a few days later and we ask to say a prayer to start the lesson, he volunteers uninvited to say it, and in the course of the prayer, prays for the well-being of his wife and asks that she be watched over and helped. It was humbling to see someone so willing to 'frankly forgive' and to treat someone with such kindness despite what had happened to him.

The quote this week comes from exchanges with one of the missionaries in the district. He was driving for the first time in his area and since he hadn't been there too long he was still getting used to the area and the streets and all that. We were coming up to a street we needed to take but it was marked weird and had a bike symbol printed right in the middle of it. It confused us and since we had to take the road and our window was shortly closing my companion for the day exclaimed:

"Is this a car or a bike lane??!! Well, now it’s a car lane!"

and then quickly veers the car to make the turn just in the nick of time. If nothing else, he and I found the experience rather hilarious.

And with that, I wish you a week of easy choices and obvious answers.

Elder Kupferer

Zone Conference!

This week was probably the most bitter-sweet zone conference to date on my mission. On the one hand it was a great chance to see so many of the friends and people that had impacted me on my mission again, until I realized that for the majority of them it would probably be the last time I would see them as a missionary. My time is quickly running out and this zone conference marked a big landmark in missionary-age. At the end of zone conference they have "departing testimonies" where all the missionaries that will go home before the next zone conference (which occur once every 3 months) give a final testimony in front of all the other missionaries. For so long I had always seen it as something far away that would never occur and then I started seeing my fellow companions and friends get up and before I knew it I myself was walking up. I still can't believe it happened.

But in other news, the conference itself was great. We had the Head Global Fleet Coordinator come in from Salt Lake City to introduce to us the new, amazing, one of a kind, Tiwi box (hold your applause). So what does a Tiwi box do, you might ask. Perfectly valid question. It’s what I asked myself. Long story short, it’s a little black box that tells you how bad you are driving. Little bit longer, it’s a little black box stuck to our windshield complete with a GPS, accelerometer, and a cord to connect to our car's computer. It measures how fast we accelerate, how hard we brake, how fast we go, and, most importantly, if we have our seat belts on. It sounds like a lot but overall it really isn't that bad. It’s not meant as a big brother type program, rather to help mentor missionaries' driving. It gives a lot of leniency and is surprisingly hard to trip (or so my zone leaders tell me). The reason behind this is that the church has over 10,000 mission vehicles (which, if the church were a commercial organization, would be the 6th largest fleet in the United States), all driven by 18-28 year old young men and women and so, as you can imagine, leads to lots of accidents which winds up being a lot of money. Hence, the box to help crazy missionaries not be crazy in the vehicles. Who knew that missionaries could do such crazy things in a Corolla?

And in other news, on an exchange this week I went with my zone leader to a lecture held at the local community college and run by I'm guessing the YSA [Young Single Adults]. It’s set up as a club on campus where various people come in once a week and lecture on subjects ranging from gospel topics to what they do for work. We show up because there’s a lot of people that wind up being interested in the Restored Gospel because of it. The free pizza is just a bonus. This week was, in her words, "a glorified telemarketer" for a newspaper company. She sells ads for the company and calls different companies asking if they want to advertise in the paper. Apparently actual paper newspapers are still a thing.

In the random department, walking around last night we saw someone cleaning out the inside of a goat. If you get a call to a stateside mission and think you won't ever see anything like a foreign mission, let me dispel that myth right now. Disgusting, yes. Frequency of a foreign mission, no. But nothing like what I had imagined getting called to central Washington.

Yesterday we also had the 'privilege' of singing in church yesterday with the other 2 sets of missionaries in the branch. It made me really appreciate all the practice I had done in high school. We sang “All Creatures of Our God and King” (in Spanish) but since our time to do anything is limited we didn't have the chance to practice much. From what they told us though it turned out okay. I guess the Spirit is a pretty good singer.

The quote this week comes from the Global Fleet Coordinator when he was giving his introduction to the Tiwi boxes. He was actually quoting one of the Apostles who in turn was quoting something he saw on a castle somewhere in England I believe. It reads:

"What e're thou art, act well thy part."

Quite a fitting quote for a group of missionaries who go out and represent Christ day in and day out. I don't know if it was the old English and having to think it over for a few minutes to understand what it said or if it was the principle, but it has stuck with me and made me reflect on our service.

And with that, I wish you all a happy Memorial Day weekend!

Elder Kupferer

A Relatively Uneventful Week

I am sad to say that not much has occurred in Moses Lake this week. The weirdest part of the week was the weather. It would be 80 and scorching one day then 50 and pouring the next and then 75 and still raining the following. Washington needs to make up its mind on its weather patterns. This week we dedicated to a lot of time for finding new people to help build up the area. With that we taught a lot of lessons and found some really cool people ranging from random guys who let us in to families that arrived just a month ago and don't know anyone. In our search for those interested in learning about Jesus Christ we also have run into our fair share of crazies, a handful of inebriated individuals, and those with some radical ideas about how the Bible is to be interpreted. All in all it has been a long albeit it entertaining week.

On Thursday we had the opportunity of serving at the food bank again. This time instead of a giant box of carrots, we got the same size box of black beans and spent an hour shoveling (literally) millions of beans into bags for distribution around the central Washington area.

On Saturday we had another Zone Training Meeting this month. It was a relief to be on the receiving end of a meeting for a change. We had some great training from our zone leaders about how to really, truly pray with faith and also about how to become "Master Finders." It involves searching for the Light of Christ which is in everyone and adding to the truth they already know. To see what we are talking about, check out D&C 88:40 and D&C 84:45. It is quite a spiritual change of pace and I'm super excited to go out and apply it. Overall I have really enjoyed seeing the turn that has been taking place in our mission in the past few months, almost stretching to a year at this point. As time as progressed, our mission has changed and become more and more dedicated and willing to work and so our mission president can now turn and offer us the next level of training to help us continue advancing personally, line upon line, precept upon precept. If we were to have given this training at the beginning of my time here in Washington, it would have gone over all of our heads. I am sad that it has taken us so long to get to this point since my time to apply it is quickly waning but the experience has still been extraordinarily. Now I get to ponder about how it plays into post-mission life. But that'd be getting trunky and we don't want that.

So here’s the quote of the week, from a license plate holder found in the Walmart parking lot:

"When mom says no, call 1-800-Grandma."

Until next week!

Elder Kupferer

Moses Lake, Washington

First week in Moses Lake has gone pretty good. It’s been a lot of running around not knowing what to do since I'm new but overall things are turning out pretty good. My companion is pretty young so it’s been fun reminiscing back on my greenie days and I'm glad that I can now turn around and help him. This area itself is a pretty entertaining spot. Moses Lake itself has about 20,000 people and with 10 family wards, a Spanish branch, and a YSA [Young Single Adult] branch it has the highest LDS population per capita behind Provo, Utah. That’s a lot of Mormons. With 4 buildings and 3 wards per building there’s always something going on. The city itself was home to a former military air base which has since been converted to residential housing and one of the largest international airports in the nation I believe. [Editor’s note: Grant County International Airport is "...one of the largest airports in the Western United States.”] Moses Lake is the biggest small town between Tri-Cities and Spokane. Not too big. Not too small. Overall it’s chock-full of people to talk to and fun experiences to have.

On Thursday we were helping out at the local food bank which happens to be the distribution center for the surrounding area, so there is always lots to be done. This week's adventure was spending an hour chopping away at a giant block of frozen shredded carrots to put them in smaller bags to send them to smaller groups. The box it came in was about the size of a cube pallet is the only way I can think to describe it (a pallet wide, long, and high). Three of us spent an entire hour breaking it up with a shovel and scooping it out to put in smaller bags. At one point two of us were inside the box trying to get the last of it to come out. It was quite the adventure. I'm positive that that box alone contains the amount of carrots I've eaten in my entire lifetime.

One of the cool things I like about the church buildings in Moses Lake is that they were planning ahead. Sunday at church both of the normal translators were absent and so I guess since I've been out a while they assumed I spoke passable Spanish a member came up to me just before the meeting started and asked me to translate the meeting, to which I agreed. I was surprised when we started walking to the front instead of the back where most of the translating I've done occurs and even more surprised when there wasn't any apparent equipment sitting out. He led me to a tiny door on the side of the stand with a mirrored window (one where you can't look through if its dark on the inside) and opens it up to reveal a microphone and a headset. The room itself was barely wide enough to fit myself in there but I sat down and started translating. It was set up in a way where when the door closed I could still see out to the speaker but had a little speaker above me that broadcast what was being said so I could speak without having to bother other members not needing the equipment. It was probably the coolest translating experience I have had to date. It made me feel all professional.

That is about it for the events of this week. Skyping home last night was enjoyable. I heard there was a city-wide internet outage last night which made things a little interesting but nonetheless the call made it through (I just don't want to see the data bill that supported an hour long video chat on my dad’s cellphone).

The quote for the week comes from this most recent conference session during the Priesthood session, which has been a hot topic of discussion lately in the zone and sadly took me too long to figure out. President Uchtdorf quoted it but it is attributed to Albert Einstein of all people. It says:

"Many of the things you can count, do not count. Many of the things you cannot count, really do count."

When it comes to the gospel of Christ, there is not a way to quantify one's conversion or the amount of service rendered, so there’s no point in aspiring to such. It has really made us reflect on what we do as missionaries and how we can truly help people.

Until next week,

Elder Kupferer

No Title This Week

So this past week Mother Nature hasn't decided if it wants to officially be summer or still be stuck in the tail end of winter. It has gone from 80 and sunny (which after the past 6 months is unbelievably hot; I'm not excited for summer) to the next day 60 and rainy again. Then throw in the ridiculous winds that come through on occasion and you don't know if you need short sleeves or if you need to unpack the big jackets again. Either way, it keeps you on your feet. Naturally the nicest day of the week was the day we had to spend 5 hours inside planning but I guess that's just how life works sometimes.

So some random goings-on for the week. We walked into a lesson kind of out of town around 6:30 PM and by the time we walked out at 8 (we had dinner as well) we look towards town and on the horizon there's a giant fire. My comp and I look at each other and remark "Well that’s not good." As we started driving back into town our first thought was that the packing plant in town had caught on fire. As we drove closer we were relieved to find out that it wasn't actually the packing plant. Only to have our hearts drop again when we realized that the fire was coming from a small part of town just outside the main city composed entirely of trailers and low-income housing. The smoke literally darkened the sky with how thick it was. Thankfully we came to find out later that no houses actually burned it was just a field that lay between the two parts of town. I guess that's a benefit of acres and acres of farm land.

Another fun story from this week was when we had district meeting all in Spanish. We attended a district meeting in the zone where the district leader was from Paraguay, his companion was from Mexico, and one of the other hermanas [sister missionaries] in the district was from Mexico as well, so we decided to have district meeting all in Spanish. Not the norm out here but it was a fun experience.

Another out-of-the-norm experience this week was when we got to teach a little bit in Primary on Sunday. They had asked us to come in and teach a little bit about Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the Gospel. To be perfectly honest, we completely forgot about it until 5 minutes before we were supposed to do it. Good thing we teach that lesson a lot though, so it went fine. It’s definitely a lot different teaching a bunch of 3 - 11 year olds instead of adults but it keeps you on your toes. It was a good exercise in teaching simply, let’s just say that.

The quote of the week comes from a talk delivered in church yesterday. Side note about church recently - I don't know if it’s because the end of my mission is drawing nigh or if all of a sudden everyone is interested in the subject but lately a lot of the talks and lessons and discussions have been about marriage. I can’t decide if this is mere happenstance or if someone somewhere is trying to send a message to me and my companion who goes home just before I do... but moving on to more pertinent things, the speaker was a young man who is in the same family boat as me, in that he is the oldest of 3 boys. When we was giving his talk (about the family, might I add) he said that he was so grateful that he "could be sealed with my brothers and sisters for eternity." It took a second and after he started his next thought he stopped and a sudden realization crossed his face as he said:

"Wait! I don't have any sisters!"

And that’s about all for this week folks. This transfer is winding down to an end so stay tuned next week to see what you think will happen with Elder Kupferer's future.

Until then,

Elder Kupferer

Another Week of Random

These past few weeks have been relatively uneventful, dominated mostly by actual missionary activities, which, on the whole, are relatively the same day in and day out. There haven't been any meetings really to attend or prepare for nor any emergencies requiring trips to far away places. In all honesty, it has been super rewarding being able to dedicate so much time to helping others. I was a little worried about finally leaving at 12 when we are supposed to (which happened for the first time this transfer this week - and we are on week 5) with not much to do (since we were usually planning during that time), but with this increase in time, the Lord has blessed us and we have found several families that are in a spot that makes them perfect to receive the message of Christ's Gospel and come closer to him. There was a family who we met last week, and due to some plans weren't able to attend church 2 weeks ago but almost without an invitation from us showed up at church yesterday. I can already tell its going to be a marvelous experience working with them.

In terms of random things to keep everyone entertained, our Ward Mission Leader in the Spanish Ward is a native speaker of that dialect that I was studying when I first got to Othello, Mixteco. For one reason or another he was not in a position to help during my first time around but things have changed a bit and he is now teaching us some of that impossible language. I am not focusing on it as I had been since it doesn't pertain as much to our area's responsibilities now but it is still awe-inspiring to listen to this language and try and grasp it. Half the time when we ask for clarification (in Spanish, by the way, since he doesn't speak English) he winds up just as confused as we are since the way the language is set up doesn't resemble Latin-based languages (i.e. English, Spanish, etc) in the least. As far as we know, he could just be speaking gibberish with how random the words are but nonetheless, we are going forward and praying desperately to be able to understand this foreign language. I don't know if I have shared some before, but to give you an idea of what this language looks like, this is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" in Mixteco (we think): ven'oo Jesucristo na'a yi'i kevi'i nu'u di'i.

But now with things that are more relatable but still slightly confusing, there was an interesting talk given yesterday that compared Joseph Smith to Harry Potter. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it but overall it was a good talk. I most definitely wouldn't have come up with it on my own but it was some good stuff to think about.

Also, not that its important, but I wanted to comment on it anyways, this past week I marked 2 decades on this planet and for the first time in 20 years, I could finally say that I felt a little different afterwards. I don't know if its the imminent responsibility ahead of me or no longer being able to call myself a teenager, but alas, I can finally move away from the children's table and sit at the adult table. That in and of itself is worth celebrating in my opinion.

The quote for this week comes from a billboard in front of a local church, and caught my attention this week so I thought I'd share it:

"A different world cannot be made by indifferent people."

I'm still trying to envision the environment where this would be said (as with most inspirational quotes people find) but I liked the concept of this one.

And with that, I wish you all farewell until the upcoming week.

Stay awesome,

Elder Kupferer