From Eastern Europe to Oakdale

David Cupery, a pastor at Oakdale’s , has taken an winding path to the Oakdale community, having spent seven years as a youth ministries trainer in Tallin, Estonia. Cupery is now making a mark on Oakdale through his work with the church and the city’s Economic Development Commission (EDC), to which he was appointed May 10. Cupery, a husband, and father of a 15-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter, recently sat down with Oakdale Patch and shared some great stories about his life in both Eastern Europe and his work in Oakdale.

Oakdale Patch: How did you end up in Estonia?

David Cupery: I was on staff at a church in the Chicago area. I was doing some training for a youth ministry organization and we had a friend in Estonia with an organization called Campus Crusade. She had mentioned to us that there was a need for similar training in Estonia.

I was invited and spent about 10 days in Estonia, which went really well.  I went back the next year and did almost the same thing. And when we got to the end of that week, the pastor—who happened to be a very significant pastor in the country, and a really great guy—and I sat down and talked. We both said the same thing: coming once a year is a really nice thing, but the reality is that one week per year isn’t really going to make an impact. We needed to decide if we were really going to invest or not. About a year-and-a-half later my family and I moved to Estonia. We ended up in Tallinn which is a really cool city from the 1400s, full of history and culture.

Oakdale Patch: What kind of work did you do when you arrived?

Cupery: We helped develop a national organization that trains and equips youth leaders for the church. I had been doing similar work in the states, and the organization I was involved with does this kind of work in 13 other countries in Eastern Europe.

Oakdale Patch: How long did you live in Tallinn?

Cupery: We were there just about seven years. We eventually got to a point where there was a national organization and a national leader in place and realized it was time for us to leave.

Oakdale Patch: Have you been back?

Cupery: We have been back once as a family.

Oakdale Patch: Do your kids have a different viewpoint of the world from living in Europe for so long?

Cupery: Our daughter still has lived more of her life outside of the United States, and our son remembers more of living overseas than he does of America; he was probably the most integrated into the culture. He was 5 when we moved to Estonia, and 11 or 12 when we came back. He did his first three years of school there. Our daughter attended just one year of school in Estonia, although she was by far the best Estonian speaker, spoke the language beautifully.

Oakdale Patch: What were some of the biggest cultural differences?

Cupery: Estonia is very technologically advanced. The country was under the control of the Soviets until the early ‘90s, and once they broke free all their new systems were created with the Internet in mind, utilizing what was current and relevant.

I have a really great story about that: Someone sent us a check from the states and I brought it to a bank in Tallin. The teller was looking at the check, then she went behind the counter and grabbed two other ladies, and they are all looking at it and whispering. I asked if there was a problem and she said, “No. It’s just that I’ve read about these in textbooks, but I have never seen one!”

In Estonia, if you want to transfer money, you do it from your cell phone. If you want to pay your bills, you do it on the Internet. It’s one of the only countries where you can vote online. Skype was invented there. So for our kids, when we would come home and visit my parents who live in rural Wisconsin it seemed like the Dark Ages.

Oakdale Patch: Do you miss living there?

Cupery: We do. Most of all, we miss the people and the relationships. But we don’t miss winter. The country is very far north, and while the temperatures were not much different than here, it was dark all the time in winter. You’d drive your kids to school in the dark, you’d get home and it would be dark—that was draining. But we miss the summer culture when it looked like dusk at 11 at night.

Oakdale Patch: How did you end up in the Oakdale community?

Cupery: We moved back to the states about three years ago, and I worked for a organization called Bible League as their Eastern European director. I traveled back and forth to Eastern Europe for a year-and-a-half. Our son was 13 and our daughter was 9 at that time, and being gone so much was really hard. Hope Church sent me an email that they were looking for an adult ministries pastor; we talked and decided we might make a good match, and we decided to move to the Twin Cities area about two years ago.

Oakdale Patch: What do you like about this community?

Cupery: I think what we enjoy the most is getting to know people, both here at Hope and outside of that. I also enjoy the outdoor opportunities—I love to fish—so that’s been really nice. Our kids are also feeling that sense of friendship and community at their schools.

Oakdale Patch: Tell us about your work with the Oakdale Economic Development Commission.

Cupery: I was just recently appointed, so I am still learning about what I will be doing. What I have gathered is that I will have a voice as the city continues to make an impact in areas that face economic challenges. There is so much potential and opportunity here. I hope I can use my voice to speak in to those situations and be part of the changes.

Hope Church has had a long history of being involved in great projects in the community. The issues that the city wrestles with, we wrestle with too. We want to offer our piece that might help.

I had a meeting with another organization in town called Building Bridges, and it was exciting because I was listening to them talk and the whole time I was thinking, “These are the same conversations we are having as a church, asking ourselves how can we make an impact? You walk away from that thinking we are not alone, and if we’re all trying to accomplish the same things, think of the potential for significant impact.

Listening to the first few conversations I have heard with the EDC I thought, “Wow, there are three groups in Oakdale all addressing very specific issues. If we can be aware of each other and build on that, there is so much opportunity. That’s why I’m excited about being part of the commission. I hope it helps tie some of these different things together and creates more momentum.