The Blessings of the Priesthood

Hello everyone! This week has been an interesting one but has been a hardworking week.

First off, we gave two blessings this week which was amazing. They were two investigators and I was able to be a part of it. We also gave my companion a blessing and I have really seen how the Lord has been able to bless His children through worthy priesthood holders and I am glad that I can be one of them and stand as a representative of Christ.

Also this week, we had some trouble with a baptismal date. This person has some legal trouble and they can’t be baptized until this is resolved so that was a little hard. Also, the other baptismal date is always gone when we try his house. But we gained 8 investigators in one day and are continuing to work hard and I have seen the Lord’s help.

We will see how this week will go but I feel this week will be better. Talk to you guys next week. 

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Mission Tour with Elder W. Mark Bassett

Oi tudo mundo! This week has been pretty great! We had a lot happen this week. 

First thing was we had a mission tour which is when a General Authority comes and talks to us and we get to meet him which is pretty cool! Elder W. Mark Bassett is a General Authority Seventy and is a member of the Brazil Area Presidency. 

We also took a picture of the entire mission with him but he was taking a while to show up so we were all standing and I was talking to a guy from Shelley, Idaho and we were talking about random stuff and I was trying to tell him that my grandparents who live in Arizona used to have a spot for missionaries (an apartment for missionaries to live in) but the word for grandparents is avos, and the word for eggs is ovos. Então, I told him that my eggs live in Arizona which makes absolutely no sense. Got to love mess ups with the language! 

Then after that, we continued to work and went to a possible investigator's house. She wasn’t there but her son was and he let us in. His name is Douglas and we continued to talk to him and by the end we set a baptism date! That was great but now we just need to continue to work with him. 

We also had stake conference which was good. All the talks were good and I understood a good amount! Overall this has been a good week and I can’t wait to continue. Talk to you guys later!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Transfers

Esta semana foi muito bom! [This week was really good!]

I did a lot this past week but I will start by talking about how we had transfers and we will be staying here! (Elder Western, Kzeczik, and I) Elder Igure got transferred to Teresopolis and we gained Elder Papalino who is really cool (and Elder Pereira until his companion shows up). But starting with last P day, we went and hiked this hill called O Morro de Cristo (the hill of Christ) which had this awesome view at the top. The next day we had district meeting which was good because we did some role-playing that helped me out this week. Then on Thursday, we helped someone move and then got some food afterwards so that is always good! The next day we had an emergency practice for the Mission Tour this coming week. What a mission tour is, it is basically when an Area Authority (in the Seventy which is a separate quorum) who comes and talks with us (or chastises us, we’ll see haha) and then he has a bigger meeting with all the wards and stakes in the area. So that will be fun. Also, this week we have two baptismal dates that we got so I am excited to help them prepare! This week has been good and I can´t wait to continue to work in Grajaú for another transfer! Oh, we also had a festa for the new transfer. 

Love, 

Elder Joseph A. Kupferer

A Week of Splits

Cara esta semana foi interesante! Hey everyone so this week has been interesting. 

So we did splits three times this week because I think we were supposed to and for some of the work to progress it was necessary (for the other dupla to change up) so I was with Elder Igure half the week which was interesting but we were working hard and I have gotten way better at making contacts in front of the church enquanto nós fazemos capela aberta (while we do open church (I think?)) which was a struggle before but it started to get better. 

I also visited a great investigator that has great potential. He also plays the accordion so that was a lot of fun. Also, there was a divisão com um outro missionário and he stayed with us for a night which was awesome. 

Overall this week has been filled with helping members, going with members to menos ativos, and just finding and teaching! Sorry it is short but I am a little pressed for time. Talk to you guys next week!

Love,

Elder Kupferer

Welcome to Grajaú 2

So this has been a really interesting week. So first off, right as I sent the previous email from last week, my trainer gets a call from President Lacerda (but he only said President so I thought he meant Branch President) and as soon as he hangs up, he says, "Well, we are being transfered." I honestly did not believe him but we were having an emergency transfer to Grajaú 2 which is in the city of Juiz de Fora because apparently the bishop called the mission president and said that he needed more missionaries. So President Lacerda prayed and thought of us. So after I finally started getting some great investigators that I felt that we had some great progress with, we got transfered but God has a plan for each of us and we are apparently needed here so we packed all of our stuff and we moved out. The night we arrived, we had a meeting with the bishop and I think his councilors so that was fun because I barely understood anything but it is great. We moved in with two different missionaries which is always fun. They are cool and will help us with the area. It is just tough because our area book had barely any good information so we were basically starting from scratch but the Lord has helped along the way and we have run into some great people that I feel that have great potential including this one guy that had been taught 8 years ago and wanted a tri (the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price) so that was awesome. We had someone help get that and will give that to him soon. Other than that we have been just working hard. The members are good, possible investigators are great, and we just are trying to love every minute! Talk to you guys later! I would send pictures but this LAN House doesn’t really send them that well so until next week! 

Love, 

Elder Kupferer