Dedo de Deus (Finger of God)

So this has been a lot of fun! I got transferred to Teresópolis and I am training Elder Kemerich!!! I am so excited to work with him and this week is awesome. He is from Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul) and he is only a member for 2 years! Man he has such a strong testimony and he is really excited to go and work. Our new area is so amazing the ward here is so excited to work with us here and I am really happy to work with them. We have two people ready to be baptized this week! I will fill you guys in more later but I will send photos now! Have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Kupferer

Novinho, Moving to Rio, and Opening Areas!!!!

ALÔÔÔÔÔ! TUDO BOM!!

Man this has been a full week. (and last couple of days). So first off we had an interview in Chácara that we were prepping to go. When we got there she walked straight up to us and said that she wasn’t ready. BUT then she had her friend and said that they both wanted to get baptized, just at the same time. SOO we remarked that. ANYWAYS I don’t have any time left in the LAN house so I will finish quickly that I am being transferred!! I will be going to Várzea, Teresópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro (I am moving to Rio!) I will also be training for the first time!! That will be really awesome. Also, since I am training I will be opening a new area and will be the district leader for the zone leaders again which will be good. Sorry this is small I will be better next week. Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Christmas Came Early

Hey everyone! 

So I have no time but I will say a few things quick. 

First, we marked a date with a person in Chácara!! (which is basically one hour traveling on the bus). So that was fun. We will visit a few more times and baptize her! It will be good. 

Also the other missionaries in my district baptized Júlia! She is the daughter of less actives that are coming back to church and her mom said on Sunday during testimony meeting that she is coming back so that was awesome! 

Oh and Luis André received the priesthood! I am so happy especially since we are teaching his mom and sister and now he can baptize them!! If that happens I will be overjoyed. 

So finally, we returned to our apartment (I think it was Thursday) and we came home to new curtains, a new frying pan, new plates and cups, and..... A WAFFLE MAKER!!!! YOU GUYS you don’t even know how excited I was to see that. It came with the recipes and everything!! I am so excited to make waffles hahaha I know this might not seem really cool but it is cool to me! SO ANYWAY hope everyone has a great week, I will try to send photos next week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Service, Service and Helping People Move!

Monday, November 27, 2017

Alô pessoal! Tudo bom?! 

So this week was pretty eventful and filled with fun stuff. 

First, I hit 9 months in Brazil tomorrow! AND I hit 7 months in the same area on Saturday. haha so that has been fun to see how much time I have been here. 

Second, let’s talk about Thanksgiving!! I DID... nothing. I honestly forgot that it was this week and we were reporting our numbers the night of, and one of the other American elders asked Elder Griffin if we did anything and we both looked at each other super confused. Haha so yeah, I forgot about it but that leads me to the service that we gave on Friday! 

So we first helped Irmã Geralda with ​​packing food storage which was fun! I will send the video to my parents to show what we did. (WARNING I’m speaking Portuguese. I didn’t really think about that until after) THEN we helped the family that was making us lunch with cleaning out a storage closet with a BUNCH of stuff. But it all ended well. 

Then we went on Saturday to the house of Sara and Lenildo, who were recently baptized, and helped them with a move! They only moved over two neighborhoods and didn’t have a lot of stuff so it was a piece of cake! The bishop, his councilor (who is also his father in law) and the Quorum President were there so that helped. 

Then on Sunday, we were able to teach this family that is amazing! The father has been to a ton of activities since he was a teenager and knows a lot of the members. So we taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to a family home evening tonight. So we will see if they come! Man this was a good, tiring week. Hope everyone has a great week!

Love, 

Elder Kupferer

Elder Atunes!

Monday, November 20, 2017

Hey everyone! Como vocês estão?

So this week was pretty great just mainly because of Friday. So Wednesday, we did a service project in the house of a member and then we had lunch at her house. It was also my companion’s birthday on the 18th and her’s the 17th (also Elder Griffin on the 17th) so she made us a cake.

THEN on Friday, we had Elder Antunes give us an awesome Zone Conference that really helped us to become more elevated and more focused on the Rock of Christ. He also told us that he didn’t even talk about half of what he had planned. So that just showed me that this was coming from the Lord. So that was pretty awesome. Then after that we celebrated the birthday of Luis André and Elder Henrique in Luis André's house which had 1 saudável cake and 2 chocolate cakes which were amazing. THEN on Saturday for lunch we had poudin and we had another cake for Elder Henrique. So that was great, I never ate so much cake in a roll.

So this is all that really happened this week. I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Love, 

Elder Kupferer

As famílias poderão ser eternas [Families Can Be Forever]

ALOOOÔ! Beleza? So this week was insane. 

So we have been helping a couple prepare for baptism and.... THEY GOT BAPTIZED!!!! This was all possible because of the members here however. This was something that I have been thinking of this week and that none of this was possible without the help of members and the bishop. Also, I have a stronger testimony now that families can be together forever and that the temple is the final goal. Yes we are helping people to come unto Christ through baptism but this is just the first step. After there are many ordinances that we need to do to return to live with our Heavenly Father including being sealed in the temple with our families for all time and eternity. And now, after a year, Sara and Lenildo can realize this dream of having an eternal family.

Sorry this one is short I just ran out of time. Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Dia dos Mortos em Parque da Saudade

O Dia de Finados (The Day of the Dead)

Monday, November 6, 2017

ALÔ! Nós quanto tempo! Senti como uma semana! haha [What’s up! Man this was a great week!]

So first off, Halloween apparently passed. We did nothing to celebrate that day (not even candy... triste [sad]) BUT we celebrated something called “O Dia dos Mortos” or “O Dia de Finados” which is the day of the dead. (cool name)  So, this day was really cool. We just showed up and handed out pamphlets, but mainly about the Plan of Salvation and how families can be together forever. 

It was a really good experience and meu amigo Luis Andre helped us pass some out! He has only been a member for a month but is helping more than some. I am impressed! Which brings me to my next point. We have been visiting him and started teaching his parents, brother, and sister! And his sister and parents have baptismal dates! It is great when you start teaching a family because now when they are baptized they can all be sealed together and it will be the greatest thing in the world! OH, and his other brother, Saulo, is being taught by the assistants of the president in their area and he sounds pretty firm as well! It is pretty awesome. 

So final thing that happened this week was that Elder Antunes, a local Seventy passed by and gave two great talks. The first thing though is that he told some stories that I didn’t expect from a Seventy.  But then he talked a lot about missionary work and how we as missionaries should work with members but also that we should be people that lift up others up. (Listen to “You Lift Me Up”). President Lacerda also said that the people we love is what we represent. So let us love the Lord and represent him! I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Same Old Area and Comp

Alô beleza!? 

So this week was interesting. First we are having transfers AND...... I am staying.... With Elder Henrique! So yeah, I am in the same area for 6 months (will be 7 and a half after this transfer) but at least Elder Henrique stayed! Elder Western is going to Varginha para ser LZ [to be a Zone Leader] and Elder Makyama is working in the staff for his last transfer. BUT Elder Papalino and Elder Griffen will return! Elder Papalino was my old comp that is amazing and Elder Griffen was my DL for a time. They will be the zone leaders here in Juiz de Fora so that will be cool.

Oh and onto the miracle of the week. YURI GOT BAPTIZED!!! So my comp and I weren’t the ones that baptized him BUT when I arrived in this area (yes, 6 months ago) he was still investigating the church and I already viu muito gente [saw a lot of people] try to baptize him but because of the mom, or some other reason, he didn’t. BUT Thursday, I did the interview for him, and Sunday before church he got baptized! I have never seen so many members cry!!! It was emotional for everyone involved. I am so glad that he entered the waters of baptism and can continue to endure to the end.

Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Coincidence or Miracle? I Think Miracle!

HEY GUYS!! 

So this week was alright until yesterday! Man yesterday was sweet. 

But first, we did some service for an investigator which was pretty awesome. We took out some of the ground to make room to put concrete stairs for their terrace lá acima [above]. So that was pretty fun. 

But yesterday was cool. So we were going to visit a less active that we haven’t found a time to meet with them but yesterday we finally entered. BUT when we entered two minutes later another companionship showed up (there is usually just two but they were doing splits…you'll understand why I said this in a minute) to the same house and were pretty surprised that we were there. They came with a member that knows the family so we started talking. Then, five minutes after, the other companionship showed up. So we had 6 missionaries with one member at a less active house (and the dad isn't a member). So that was cool because none of us planned with one another beforehand and we just gave them a quick message and the spirit was super strong. I am glad that we followed the spirit and visited that family because apparently they needed it.

Sorry this is short, I will talk to you guys next week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Miracles and Jesus Christ

So this week I forgot about something I wanted to write about since last week but forgot until after so I will mainly talk about that but first off, this week was good. 

We had interview with Presidente Lacerda which was great. So during this one, I had a humbling experience. My president said that being the district leader for the zone leaders is a good amount of responsibility and that if I animate them, then the whole zone will be animated. Then he said something that hit me hard. He said, "Elder, the Lord has a lot of trust in you." That hit me hard because as a representative of Jesus Christ, it was humbling to hear that the Lord has faith in me, I just need to continue to do my part. 

The other thing I wanted to talk about is that we have done two family home evenings in two separate homes. The first was with Irmã Nilma. So for these special noite familiares (family home evenings but it is easier to write the former) we would show different videos of the miracles that Christ did while he was here on earth, and then after say that "…as representatives of Christ, what do you want to ask for if Jesus Christ was here?" Then, we write it down, say the prayer, and then leave them to continue feel the Holy Ghost (because it is already there.) So with Nilma, we did this and she started to cry because she thought of her husband and felt the spirit. With the other family, (Irmã Andreia) we did the same thing, she didn’t cry, but I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. It was a great reminder of our purpose here on the mission and it was great to feel the spirit that much. 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Service

Hey so this one is going to be real short because I am out of time já [already]. So first, we have a guy named Rafael that is going great... until I told him I would call and didn’t do that until later. So there’s that but I have one main thing that I wanted to talk about.

There is this family, Sara and Lenildo, who said that they didn’t like how other churches don’t really help them when they needed it (I am not saying that this is every other church I am just saying what they said) but she liked how when she entered ours, she felt welcome, and felt that they would actually help her out. I am just glad that this is a church of service. We don’t just preach it, we practice it. (Again, I know other churches do as well) I just loved that talk that President Eyring gave during conference about the yellow-shirted angels. If you haven’t read it, I ask that you go do that (or watch).

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Zone Conference and GENERAL CONFERENCE!

Monday, October 2, 2017

HEY GUYS. 

So we had zone conference this week which was awesome but to be honest, I won’t really focus on that too much but here we go. So our mission president talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and how we need to be doing the small things in order to have more power as missionaries. It was great. 

Then we found some families in between this and conference but OH BOY. Conference was amazing. First, I hope that the family of Elder Robert D. Hales is fine. He was an amazingly powerful apostle and was a man called from God. But this conference was so filled with good talks. I loved how they focused on having your heart centered on Christ but also I loved Elder Hallstrom’s talk on maricle (milagre I forgot how to spell that in English it doesn’t look right haha miracle?) But what he talked about that just being here on Earth is a miracle, having a body is a miracle, and through faith, small people (like you and me) can do great miracles. I bear my testimony that the words spoken in conference were inspired from God, and that everyone that talked were called of God. I sustain and love President Thomas S. Monson. I hope everyone has a good week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Oh fun highlight, I got to listen to conference in English! It was awesome to actually here the people’s voices instead of a monotone translation (although for Priesthood session I listened to the rebroadcast in Portuguese) 

Oh we also repainted our casa because we wanted the spirit to better be there. This is what happened.

Oh and that is the picture of my zone when we had that district meeting.

District Meeting and a Baptism

Monday, September 25, 2017

Hey everyone! 

So I don’t have a lot of time so this will be short. 

So the first thing that happened was that we had a district meeting and I gave a training since I am the district leader. Only thing different was that it was actually the whole zone that was there because our president has some new "rules" that he put into place that will help elevate the whole mission so the zone leaders told the whole zone the new information. So after that I got up and started my training and.... I said a person’s name wrong. It is Elder Carneiro but I said Elder Carno. Yep. SO that was fun. 

Oh and I got a new comp called Elder Henrique. He is chill and I think well will get a lot done here. 

Oh and Andre, the person that was struggling with smoking, stopped! And got baptized. When we went to pick him up I felt an overwhelming amount of peace just letting me know that this was right. 

Love you guys and I will talk to you all next week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Ups and Downs

Ai caras! Beleza? 

So this week has been a mix of ups and downs. 

So first off we have a pesquisador chamado [an investigator called] Andre and he was the one that is having trouble with cigarros [cigarettes] BUT he was progressing and was getting ready for BATISMO. Or so we thought, because he passed the interview and everything but we had an activity before he would have gotten baptized but he showed up and confessed some things to Elder Western (who gave the interview) of stuff that happened after and he then sat down with Elder Western, Elder Valdiviezo, and bishop and they talked about how he couldn’t get baptized until next week. Needless to say, he was a bit mad at them but he calmed down, and now we will work for Saturday! 

So we also had transfers and a lot happened. First, Valdiviezo and Hilario left for the mission office and house since they are going home. My new comp was someone else but then they changed everything around and now I am with an elder named Elder Henrique. Oh, and I am district leader now which means that I give training to the people in my district (which is really small. It’s my comp and I and the Zone Leaders). So that will be fun haha. I am excited and a little nervous for this new responsibility but I know it is where the Lord wants me so I will continue with this. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Miracles and Miracles That Went Bad

(Monday, September 11, 2017)

Hey everyone! What's up! So this week has been a good and hard one. 

So, first off we have an investigator that won’t stop smoking or drinking! It is frustrating because he keeps telling us that he wants to quit and we gave him a blessing (which he said worked and every time he wanted to smoke he wanted to throw up. So we thought that would end it right? No. He still continued after, hence Miracle that went bad) but we ended up just telling him that he can’t keep doing this. So we helped him with taking away chances to smoke or situations that he would do these things so let’s hope that will help! 

NEXT, we went back to visit an investigator and we ran into her son, Italo. So we started talking to him about music, cars, planes, and then we said, oh a gente vai passa amanha ta bom (or, we will pass by tomorrow alright?) He then said, “or we can just talk right now” (hmmm, alright sounds good) so we then taught him and his mom and we marked a date with him. Then we passed by again and he will be moving but it is still in our area so we will see him again! 

Then on Thursday was Independence Day here WHICH WAS a normal day. Like, no one celebrated anything. I heard more fireworks going off for Flamengo (a soccer team and my favorite team here. Vai Flamengo!) than I did for their own independence. BUT we did have a churrasco (barbecue) and it was killer! 

But then our mission president said that the missionary manual said that holidays were perfect for finding families so he said if you go out and search, you will find one family and one youth (jovem) that will go on a mission. So we went out, and...... We got a family and a youth to teach!! We just need to continue to pass by there, but that day, we got 6 new investigators. It was just a testimony to me that if you use the time of the Lord wisely, especially when you do your part, the Lord will provide. 

I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Changes & Zone Conference

(Monday, September 4, 2017)

Alô tudo mundo! Tudo brite? 

This week was pretty awesome! So first off we have this investigator called Andre and he is honestly the best. We have been working with him and it has been good. On Tuesday, after Zone Conference (which I will talk about after) we went by to check on him and to teach him a little more, but when he walked up, we didn't even recognize him! He cut his hair, fez um barba (shaved) and was dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt. He said that he was trying to be more like us and we then talked to him about how he can be more like someone better, Christ! Haha so that has been good. 

So, Zone Conference. Zone conference was really good. Our mission president wants to have 100 baptisms in the month of September so we talked about ideas on how we can get that going and what would be impeding that. 

Also, the secretários showed us a video of what they do on a regular basis para a gente entender (for us to understand) and then we watched a guy who explained the power of doing an angel Gabriel contact. He said that we need to have the same conviction as the angel Gabriel when he was talking to Mary. He said that Gabriel told her what would happen and that we as representatives as Jesus Christ have the same power. I really took this to heart and have been doing my best to apply it because I AM a representative of Jesus Christ and I am doing the same thing He would be doing if he was here in Brazil. I am going from house to house, blessing the lives of people, and sharing a message of eternal families and how we can live with our Heavenly Father once again. I know that this is the true church and I know that I am doing His work. 

Hope you guys have a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Progredindo (Progressing)

(Monday, August 21, 2017)

Hey everyone! 

So this week nothing really eventful happened so this one will be pretty short. 

So we received a list of all the inactivos (people who have been inactive for a while) and we went and tried to pass around to the different people there. We ran into Pedro and Aparecida which was interesting. Pedro is a 90 year old (89 but he said he is 90 so we'll go with that) who lives with his wife and all their kids are connected to their house (I don't know how to explain it you would just have to see it.) His house looks incredible and he actually built it all himself which is even cooler! Only problem that he has been Roman Catholic for all his life so he doesn't want to change his religion but that is up to him. 

We passed by Ingrid and started teaching her brother and are trying to teach her mom as well but she is never there when we pass by. Also, we have just been passing and helping out members and visiting a few less actives. We had a lot more people in church so that was great. 

There really isn't much else other than our LMA (Our ward mission leader (Líder da missão da ala)) is awesome and is actually helping a lot. It has been refreshing to have someone who wants to work with us instead of just being there. But that is it for this week. 

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

A Week of FHEs...and Six Months!!

(Monday, August 28, 2017)

Hello everyone! So first things first.... I hit 6 months today!!!! I can’t believe that I have been out that long it feels like last week I got on the plane to leave for São Paulo and now I am here in Juiz de Fora, 6 months in. 

Anyway this week was good. We started with a person called Catelina. Which was great! We marked a date and she is interested. We then continued working, marking novos (New investigators?) and yesterday we ran into an investigator that was having troubles. He is feeling really down so we had to talk to him and slowly he started to listen to the lesson and we committed him to baptism and he accepted! We kept talking to him but as he was talking he just kept saying "Eu vou ser um Mórmon" (I will be a Mormon). Why yes you will and that is why we are here haha. It was awesome. 

So that leads me to my last point. We tried to have a Noite Familiar (family home evening, it is where you have a message, an activity and usually food) every single night this past week and.... we had 5/7. Which was good! It was really fun and great because you get to see different members with their whole families and share a message from the gospel with them. It is awesome, if you guys don't do family home evening do it! You will see the difference in your week! I know it will bless your lives. Until next week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

New Comp, Same Life

(August 14, 2017)

Oi tudo mundo! Man this week was interesting. 

So on Tuesday, I helped my old companion Elder Bledsoe move to his new house, where I picked up a different elder who was going to the bus station and then waited for my new comp. I then picked up my new companion, Elder Valdiviezo (correct now…I don’t know if I messed it up before but it is right now haha) 

Then, we went straight to an activity after we dropped his bags hahaha. No time for him but oh well. 

The next day we had a training about Dengue for an activity on Saturday and then Saturday, we had the activity with classes, free clinics, and Zumba. I was stationed with the pilates room and they had a machine that helped to tell you your weight, your bmi, percentage of muscle, percentage of fat, percentage of fat in your abdominal area, and your body age. It was really funny to see the different people go up and try it out.... and see their reactions. There was an 18-year old with the body age of 45 (HA) he wasn't too pleased with that. 

AND THEN, the week took a stop this past few days. 

First, we went to visit Fernanda, and we found out that she moved. So now, we need to figure out her new address (they said it was a neighborhood next to them so that is good but still need to search for her). 

Also, since it was Father’s Day here yesterday, all our investigators and some less actives were busy with barbecues or visiting their fathers so we had no one at church and was the lowest attended sacrament meeting since the wards were together. So that is something that we just need to work on this coming week and continue to get some people closer to Christ! 

Talk to everyone next week!

Love, 

Elder Kupferer

All these photos are from a route that we thought was faster, but actually took more time to get to a member’s house. The view was killer though!

What a Packed Week!

Alô tudo mundo! 

Man has this been an interesting week. I will first start with how this week went. This week was packed! 

Nós we were busy because in order to get the three perspective baptisms this week, we needed to go there (visit the investigators?) basically every day to make that happen. So we did that and everything was looking right for that to happen until Thursday.  We talked to the father of Rosimere (she is older but she still lives at home) and her dad said, "oh you can baptize someone who is still smoking" (Which two things, first that was hard to translate that from Portuguese to English and second, she told us that she had stopped smoking and everything) which was a surprise to us.  So we talked to her the next day and continue to talk to her about that.  Then, we talked to the mom of Fernanda, and she didn't give her permission after 20-30 minutes of trying to talk to her (but it went from a straight no to in a few weeks so that is good haha). 

Then, came Saturday. Saturday, we did splits because Elder Western needed to do the interview because he is the zone leader and you need someone who hasn’t been teaching and invested in the person to give the interview. So I was with the other Zone leader when we received a call that Ingrid will get baptized! Man I was super happy.  We had a great turn out and after the baptism I was just filled with so much joy because we helped another person get closer to Christ and it is amazing to see that happen! 

Then, after church (where she got confirmed!) we were having a meeting with the ward missionary leader (Líder de missionária da ala in Portuguese) when the Assistants called (we just finished our last week of the transfer) and we received our next areas and companions. 

So, my companion Elder Bledsoe will leave for Manchester and finish the training of Elder Cunha there. (Still in Juiz de Fora so that is chill). Elder Western and Elder Hilario will stay our zone leaders. AND I WILL... do nothing as well I will stay in Bairu (Antiga Grajaú) and I will pick up my new companion, Elder Valdivieri tomorrow at the rodoviária (bus station lol) which is cool because first, he is from Argentina, and second, this is his last transfer before going home so that will be fun! So yeah that was the week. I will talk to everyone next week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

God is Great

Hey so this week was amazing.

So first off, we have been working a lot.  We received uma referencia [a reference] from Andre, a 13 year old member and we talked with two of his friends and marked dates. 

Then on Friday, things went south. The past week almost all our dates fell through, my comp and I were a little tired of knocking doors, and were a little tired of the area. It got a little better but was hard. 

Then Saturday, we went to Homero, a member and his daughter was there so we started to give her a message, but then turned it into a lesson and then committed to the 5th for baptism! Then we talked to Homero and he was in shock haha. 

Then on Sunday God blessed us with miracles. So first, we went to wake up a member João Victor because he usually sleeps in past church and when we arrived, an investigator was there and he said that he would go too. Wha... alright. 

We had two other girls that thought church started at 7 so they were there... at 7 lol. Fernanda was mad at Ingride (the two girls) but after church we committed them to the 5th as well so I will hopefully have some pictures that day. And that night we were trying to hit the standard of new investigators. (from Dahrl:  When I asked him what this means, he said 15.  What I think he is saying is that they have a goal of getting 15 new investigators in a week or a month.)  So we started and got 4 IN 25 MINUTES. That was a record and I just turned to my comp and said, "Why don’t we do this all the time?" So you will see more from us hahaha. 

I have been trying to teach my comp English and the other Brazilian with the other American and it is hilarious. We are reading the Book of Mormon in English and it is hilarious. 

Well, this week was awesome. I will talk to you guys next week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Festa Junina

Ai caras beleza?! Man this week was hard but a lot of fun as well. 

So this week, we had two Festa Juninas [*] and if you ask, what is that, well.... good question. I don’t know haha but our ward threw it and it was really cool. We also went to a birthday/Festa Junina para um menino [for a boy] called Diego, who is one of our investigators. 

Also, we went out and worked some members which is always fun. 

Oh and I am teaching my comp some hymns in English which is pretty entertaining.

 Also, we had a baptismal interview but she was drinking coffee the day before so the next one is for this week! And we had a date fell through so that was hard because she is awesome but fell through because she didn’t want to go to church because of some of the people there (long story) but Ronaldo and Miriam are stronger than ever, asking awesome questions, just need to get married! They made food for me and my companion every week for the past three weeks and it is amazing. 

I also hiked up to the Christ statue again so that was awesome. 

Thanks for all the love and support. Talk to you all next week!

Elder Kupferer

[*] “Festa Junina” is the term used to describe the traditional festivities that happen at the beginning of the Brazilian winter in June. It is a month to commemorate some of the most famous saints for Catholics; namely Saint Anthony, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Peter. It is also a month to honor rain, the harvest season and marital union. 

Fourth of July...Kind of

Hey everyone!

So, this week we celebrated the Fourth of July! Sort of. Since I am in Brazil, no one does anything for an American holiday so I went to an açai place and celebrated with that. 

Then this week we just worked. Like, I don’t think I have had a week this busy, but what a blessing. 

First, we finished less actives in a bairu (neighborhood) called “Linhares” and they said to come back in a little bit. 

So, we continued and we talked with a reference and they let us in. We taught them, one had already been taught but the other three haven’t and all three of them accepted baptismal dates! And they were going to come to sacrament meeting, but there was a family emergency. 

But then we are continuing with a lady named Aparecida, who believes in everything, but when it comes to baptism, she is hesitant. So, we are just working with her and her husband (a member) Elizier, is awesome! He is trying to speak English so he is talking to me in english, and he sings. He is also 86 years old! So that is impressive. 

For sacrament meeting, we had 7 investigators there so that was amazing! But one didn’t come because of a different family that was already there. They apparently hate each other so that will be interesting to see what happens because they are both awesome. 

And we also had Zone Conference which was awesome. Sister Lacerda talked about 8 steps for emotional stability so that has been good to use because if you are emotionally healthy, your body functions better and you can work more effectively. Also, President Lacerda and the assistentes all said great things that I am trying to continue to use. But that is it for this week. 

Love you guys!

Elder Kupferer

Transfers and 4 Months

Oi tudo mundo! Esta semana foi legal! 

[Hi everyone!  This week was cool!]

So this week was the first week with my new companion, Elder Papalino, from São Paulo! He is really cool and Elder Bledsoe and Elder Pereira arrived as well. 

We then got to work and we have 3 new baptismal dates. And something really cool happened this week. Ok two things. 

First, I hit 4 months in the mission! I can’t believe that that much has already passed! 

Second was a literal gift from God. So, we were a house with some investigators, and we were teaching about the plan of salvation. So we finished and we felt like we should invite them to get baptized so we invited them for the 22 of July and the mom got really spooked. She then told us that her dad died one year ago from that date and that she was planning on doing nothing that day because she would be super sad and then we came along and told her something that could change her life. It was an awesome experience. Then after that, they mentioned that they were not married yet because of some legal issues but are getting married this month! So guess I am going to a marriage! And as we were finishing up we asked them the three things they need to do (these things are usually read the Book of Mormon, pray to know if it is true, and go to church). We said one and the dad said, marriage (I mean, yeah that too) and then we said second, and they said baptism (YES not what we were going for but yes) and the best thing is that they came to church! Dude I have such a strong testimony of our Heavenly Father that He lives and helps to prepare His children to return back to Him. I am grateful for this week and am excited to continue to work! 

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Noite do Bang Bang

Man was this week busy. So first thing was that we finally had this activity that was planned weeks back (or at least mostly planned). So this past week, our LZ [zone leaders] (because even though it was our activity, everyone in our zone was invited to bring investigators, especially since our mission president was speaking) wanted to do a little skit about the Plan of Salvation. So this past week we did that in the morning instead of studying. So we prepped for that, had our usual meetings with the ward mission leader, and the activity began on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and everything went smoothly once it started. Then the other dupla [literally ‘double’, meaning companionship] had a baptism (and Bairu but the next morning). Then we had something insane happen on Sunday.

So we usually have two wards at this building but on Sunday, they announced that the two wards were merging and is now called “ala Bairu” (which was the other ward already). So that also means that all the missionaries here are now for Bairu because there is no more Grajaú. But then we had the call for transfers, which also means I finished my training! That just means I am a normal missionary now. But we got the calls last night and I got transferred.... to the other side of my house.

Yeah so I am now just with Elder Papalino but because of this ward change, everything else got moved around. For example, Elder Western will be training again (haha boa sorte [good luck]) and will be the district leader in Manchester (still in Juiz de Fora).  Elder Pereira will be coming into our house with another elder, Elder Bledshoe (I think that is how you spell it). The zone leaders got moved to the house in Bairu (where Elder Pereira was) and Elder Smith got transferred to Conselho Paulina (Elder Smith just arrived two weeks ago).

So this week has been an adventure and I am glad to continue here in now Bairu!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Dom de línguas é real! [The gift of tongues is real!]

Olá gente! Está semana foi top jé mais! 

[Hi guys! This week was ________]

First off, I helped with two mudanças (moves/out of a house) and they were interesting! They were both with our district leader and comp in their area but the first one, Elder Pereira cut his finger on the washing machine and he went to sit down after a few minutes and then PASSED OUT! He was sweating and turned white, it was pretty scary in the moment. So we then called Sister Lacerda and she said, "Oh elders that is nothing, just send him home, eat some crackers (or bread I don’t remember) with butter and he should be good.”  Elder Pereira ficou bravo demais! (stayed really mad). That was fun hahaha. 

Next move, we first moved them out of the old apartment and then we had to go up uneven, steep stairs in the other apartment. That was pretty difficult but she fed us afterwards so it is all good. We then had an activity after that move at the church. It was futebol, and it was a BUNCH of fun. It was just jovem [young] investigators so everyone was playing fast and it was good. And after that Diego, 12, said that he wanted to get baptized now. MILAGRE!!! I was sooo stoked to hear this, the Lord truly helps, it was great! 

Also, this week Elder Kzeczik was transferred to Varginha and was transferred with Elder Smith! He is from Draper, Utah and is pretty great. So we have three Americans in our house and I thought that I would hear more English, but I just hear mostly Portuguese, and man, dom de línguas é real! [the gift of tongues is real!] So I have still been reading some things in English and my comp and the other missionaries were constantly saying “Português” (as in “read in Portuguese”) and I would ignore them but they finally seriously said that I would learn more if I stopped. So I did it, and I understand so much more now! I understand the people on the street, in houses, and I understood all the talks this week. 

Speaking of Sunday, Leonardo passed the sacrament this week!!!! It was great to see him to continue to progress in the gospel! Also, we had four investigators at church, and a less active, Gabriel, came to church. He had not been to church for two years and he stayed all three hours! 

Well this week was great and went by super fast. Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

BATISMO! [Baptism!]

BOM DIA TUDO MUNDO! [Good morning everyone!]

This week was pretty great even if my comp was sick for a day. So first, for district meeting our district leader had crackers, cheese, and yogurt with grape juice ready for us which was dope. 

Then that day Elder Western got 15 new investigators and then we got 5 dates so it was a good day. THEN Elder Western was sick for two days so I got stuff done around the house.

Then we continued to work Friday but on Saturday, we went around getting people/ teaching people and then later that day I baptized Leonardo! He was someone that I found on splits but the other elders took him. Luckily, I was able to baptize him and I was able to see him get confirmed the next day. It was amazing! I am so glad to help a person come closer unto Christ. It felt great.

Later that Saturday, we had an activity, and then on Sunday I gave my second talk of the mission, which was on missionary work (ha that´s easy). It was a great week and I am excited to continue to work hard this week. Hope everyone has an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Bad Boys, Shrek and Cancun

Man has this week been great! 

So, it started with a pretty great district meeting where we set higher goals and really talked about how we can continue to work harder. At the end, we took pictures and one of them was with Elder Kzeczik and he saw the picture and said, "Bad Boys" which was pretty funny in the moment. 

Another thing is that we got 7 baptismal dates this week! It was awesome, some were referrals but some were just us running into people. One of them is named Dudu, and he has close to nothing, but he seemed really interested in the gospel and we marked a date with him.  After the meeting, he gave us a Shrek doll which was really cool and nice considering what he had. We then continued to work with members and just try to continue to work hard. 

On Saturday though, we went to this açaí and lanches (snacks) store called Cancun which is run by some people that know the missionaries and subsequently us very well.  Maria, one of the owners, made us some soup that we all got to enjoy and it was fun to just relax and talk with them. 

This week has been amazing (I passed my 3-month mark two Sundays ago) and I am just continuing to work hard, especially with 7 new baptismal dates! I hope everyone has a good week! 

Love,

Elder Kupferer